Conspiracy
by BROE4EVER1
Summary: (Broe) Chloe, Mimi, Phillip. Belle and Shawn are big time bad guys. What happens when they try to complete their next mission; Brady Black?
1. (prologue)

Conspiracy  
  
Note: Phillip and Belle are in no way related to Brady in this FanFic. Brady's last name will remain 'Black' and so will Belle's, but I just want you to know that they are not siblings.  
  
Prologue  
  
The dark, hooded figure had the five teenagers lain on the cots he had prepared for them inside his private jet. They were his property now, and would be always. He would stage their death, as he had all others before them. He would tear them away from their families and leave them to grieve the loss of their children. He would deprive them of a normal, happy life and instead make them live one of treachery and dishonesty. Such things were done only at the hands of one man: Stephano DiMera.  
  
Stephano had had his eye on this particular clan for one of many reasons, the main one being that the group contained a person he had been seeking for seventeen years. He walked silently among the unconscious forms and examined them; stopping when he came to that which he had been looking for. He gently turned the body's head with his hands and looked into her face. Then he nodded in approval as he let the brunette's head fall back into its original position. She would fit in quite nicely with his plans, not only because she was smart enough to have located him, but because she was the tall, mysterious figure that he needed to carry out his wake of destruction upon the world. The only flaw was that she had been stupid enough to fall right into his trap, dragging four of her friends along with her. Now he had five young, healthy adolescents at his fingertips, living for nothing more than to do his bidding.  
  
Stephano turned around, lifting his dark cloak off of his shoulders and tossing it aside carelessly as he made his way to the pilot's cockpit. He pushed back the heavy steel door and stepped inside, taking a seat behind the co-pilot. His stewardess offered him something to drink, but he waved her off. Now was no time for drink, just thought. Stephano did a lot of thinking when it came to his followers. Though these five kids that were in the back room of his plane were not his followers quite yet. When they would make a pit stop on their way to Los Angeles, all of that would change. He glanced down at his watch and smiled. It wouldn't be long now. Soon he would have succeeded in what he had been planning for a long time. The teens accidentally stumbling upon an old birth record was planned. That record leading them to a small, dark woman living in the richer parts of Salem with her husband and child was planned. The woman giving them an aged journal that contained Stephano's secret whereabouts was planned. Now he was in the final stretch of his plan. Since the group was headed by the tall, mysterious brunette whom he had captured and what appeared to have been a man that she was very close to, he had not even had to send out any more clues for them to find her. The brunette was too clever, perhaps even cleverer than many of his most trusted and reliable servants.  
  
They stopped in a secluded landing base on the high altitudes of the mountain chains stretching down from the Canadian Rockies. Beneath the base was a hidden laboratory where many technological mind-control devices were tested. This was the final part of Stephano's plan. All of the teenagers, still completely unconscious, were carried down into the deep catacombs beneath the rocky base. Stephano walked slowly behind his servants and made sure that each door they passed through was securely locked behind them. The room they stopped in was large, possessing an eerie echo. Five of his doctors stood ready beside five operating beds, each having been called and told ahead of time that Stephano had new additions to his ever-growing entourage of evil.  
  
That day five teenagers died. Chloe Lane, Phillip Kiriakis, Belle Black, Shawn Brady and Mimi Lockheart, each replaced by someone completely different. Five alter egos were set to continue their lives for them, all of them having but one name, but one mind, but one goal: to wreak havoc on the world as we know it.  
  
When the operations were complete, the teenagers were lost forever to the world that they had grown in, and were now set to continue on in another. Raven, Hawk, Kyra, Matrix and Mya emerged from the white room less than and hour after they had gone in and stood obediently at the first set of bolted doors that kept them from reaching the outside world.  
  
Stephano came walking out of an elevator. When he saw them waiting patiently by the doors he grinned maliciously. Walking slowly towards them, he motioned for them to stand in a line as he inspected them carefully, walking in circles around them. The girls were dressed in high black boots, tight black pants and black tank tops. The two men were wearing black shoes, black pants and black muscle shirts. All of them held a heavy silver belt yet to be filled with their required arsenals. The five teenagers' eyes were still glazed over from their mind-alteration, and they didn't seem to be as applied to their surroundings as someone who was thinking clearly. But that would pass soon, it was a temporary side effect experienced by all of Stephano's forced followers. He had long since given up the simple technical merit of a brain chip and gone instead with a newer, more permanent device that, in one session, was able to completely erase all of a victim's memory and replaced instead with ones that he preferred to give them.  
  
He stood back and nodded his head in approval. He motioned for two of his guards to step forward from their posts. Stephano turned to face them, his eyebrows raised to enunciate even more the importance of his words.  
  
"These are the new additions to your force. You will work and train with them for exactly one year. Run them through the same combat and machinery training that your men go through. I want them in excellent shape when I return."  
  
Then he turned back towards the teenagers standing stock-still before him.  
  
"Pay special attention to this one." He said, nodding his head towards the former Chloe Lane. "I want her in the best shape of all of them."  
  
The two guards bowed their heads in acceptance of their new mission and started to lead them back up to the base where they would be directed to their new living quarters. As they reached the doors, Stephano placed his hand on Raven's shoulder and held her back. She turned around to face the villainous man.  
  
"Raven, you must train hard. I want you to be the best out of all of the mercenaries on this base. Make me proud, daughter."  
  
Raven let the words sink in, the effects of the alterations still upon her, but finally she nodded her head.  
  
"Yes, father." She said. Then she bowed, turned around and ran to catch up with the others, her boots making a loud clunking sound as she disappeared up out of the underground fortress.  
  
Their identities as Stephano's eternal servants were sealed for good when his hired men 'witnessed the drowning of five teenagers living in the town of Salem', their families left to grieve, never to see their children again. Their bodies were never found, and no trace of them was left anywhere but in their homes in a depleted collection of photographs and personal belongings.  
  
Stephano DiMera had won again.  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Name Chart:  
  
Raven~Chloe  
  
Hawk~Phillip  
  
Kyra~Belle  
  
Matrix~Shawn  
  
Mya~Mimi  
  
This is for those of you who got confused when I listed the teens' alter egos. Also, I will be referring to the teens as their new names. ( 


	2. Chapter 1

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Three years later, Raven and Hawk were found sitting comfortably in the main office of their guarded fortress in the heart of the most crime-ridden city in all of the United States: Los Angeles, California. Stephano DiMera had had the whole hideout built while the five teenagers were training at the DiMeras' main mercenary base. The fortress housed Raven, Hawk, Matrix, Kyra and Mya, along with their guards and several agents that worked under their lead. The fortress lay a good ten feet under ground, and their only entrance was hidden away in the darkest alleys of the city. Ultimately, their crime force was headed by Raven DiMera, the job having been given to her by her father when he had learned that she had surpassed the physical and mental strengths of his best men.  
  
If you were to look upon the two figures in the main office that day, then you would notice that they looked quite bored. Raven had her feet up on the desk, drumming her fingers on the dark mahogany desk. Hawk sat across from her, sharpening the dagger that he kept hidden inside a low pocket of his pants. Raven's hair was down again, which would have been to the dismay of her father. He had insisted that she wear it back like the other women with extremely long hair, saying that it would one day be the death of her in close combat, but she refused. If anyone had had her hair for as long as she had it, then they would know the trade secrets and be able to keep it out of their face, too.  
  
Mya came walking through the door just as Raven pulled the small knife from the hidden compartment at the side of her boot. She looked up when she heard the footsteps and instinctively flung the knife at the woman, pinning her to the wall by her shirtsleeve. Mya didn't even flinch. Raven narrowed her eyes, then shrugged, surprised that Mya had been able to endure her attack and stood up slowly, walking over to the girl who was a good bit shorter than she was. She took hold of the knife and pulled it out of the wall, releasing Mya from her pinned state.  
  
"Nice shot." Mya said sarcastically, sitting down beside Hawk.  
  
Raven walked back to her chair and took a seat, feeling the edge of her blade. She smiled as a thin trickle of scarlet blood appeared on her fingertip. She raised an eyebrow and raised her eyes to look at Mya, pressing the tip of the dagger against her thumb.  
  
"What are you talking about?" She said in a low growl, keeping the malicious smile on her face. "I missed."  
  
Mya drew back immediately, sitting back as far as possible against her chair. Raven laughed, shaking her head. She was definitely the most intimidating person that anyone in that fortress had ever met. They swore that if you didn't follow her orders she would cook you up and eat you for a snack. And that was not too far from the truth. Raven had a way of doing things in such a way that people were sure not to forget it too quickly. Once when Kyra had slacked off in target practice and missed the bull's eye nine out of ten times, Raven had spent the next week playing darts everyday at the time that Kyra was scheduled to check in at her office. She purposely missed, showing her poor skills in target shooting, and aimed them instead at Kyra's belt buckle, never missing or failing to scare Kyra to death once. You would never know her personality by looking at her. When she wasn't focused on scaring someone with her eyes, Raven actually looked like a sweet, shy girl. But then again there was always the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover' and in Los Angeles, that had to be the most important saying ever.  
  
Hawk was still sharpening his knife, grinning at the way Raven was able to scare everyone around her. He was never scared, but perhaps that was because Raven refrained from trying to intimidate him. It wouldn't have been a lost cause though, because Hawk would have surely jumped if he had had a dagger thrown in close quarters of his body. The girl was definitely some sort of aiming genius. But of course, the other reason that she chose not to pick on him was probably because they were dating. That is as far as dating goes when you were in a business the likes of that in which they were in at that moment, but still, dating is dating.  
  
Raven put her feet back up on the table, her wavy hair cascading across her shoulders in a multitude of auburn tresses. She took her belt off (think Lara Croft's belt) and laid it down on her desk. The belt held many essentials for her place as the leader of a notorious crime force. A 35mm semi-automatic handgun, some grenades, replacement blades for her glasscutter, a couple tranquilizer darts and an extra pouch of bullets.  
  
Raven picked up the handgun and held it in her hand. She hadn't used it for at least a month, and that was a very long time for her to wait. In other words, she was a trained, cold-blooded killer and so were the rest of the teens she had been sent to that army base with. Their only way of life was to kill, only gaining from what they did. There was no loss when you were headed by two DiMeras.  
  
Raven pointed the gun at the box of bullets lying on the floor by her door and pulled the trigger. The box went flying into the air and landed on its side, the package splitting and allowing dozens of little bronze bullets to spill out its sides. Hawk raised his eyes from the well-sharpened knife in his hand and looked over at the box. Then he turned his head to meet Raven's eyes. Raven shrugged her shoulders, giving him a half-smile. Mya jumped at the sound of the gun blast and took this as her cue to leave. There was no way she was going to stick around when her boss could just point a gun at her at any moment. She rose quickly from her seat and walked out the door. Raven was about to protest but Hawk shook his head. Raven stood with her mouth half-open, words at the tip of her tongue, then she stopped and sat back down, leaning against the back of her chair. As soon as Mya had left, Kyra and Matrix came into the room. They stopped and both looked down at the spilled box of bullets, then curiously at Raven who waved the gun in the air to prevent them from asking what had happened. Chloe motioned for them to sit down and lifted her belt off the table, tossing it onto the ground by her feet.  
  
Kyra and Matrix each took a seat across from her and sat in silence for a while.  
  
"What is it?" Raven asked, breaking the silence. Kyra looked up and met her eyes.  
  
"It appears as though we have a new case." She said, Matrix still in deep thought as he sat in silence beside her.  
  
"Oh..." Raven said, pulling her feet off of the table. "Tell me about it." She said, leaning in towards the pair.  
  
"Well, we've been contacted by one of our outlying branches. It seems as thought they want us hired as hit men. They've placed an abnormally high bounty on the head of a New York native." Kyra explained.  
  
"Oh? And we're supposed to do the dirty work." Raven finished for her.  
  
"There's a lot of cash involved here boss. We could be home free for a couple of years with the dough they're willing to pay us for this guy." Matrix said.  
  
"Who is he?" Hawk asked, tucking his dagger away in a compartment of his belt.  
  
"Brady Black." Kyra answered.  
  
"Brady Black?" Raven repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Well Mr. Brady Black, wave bye-bye to the world as you know it." She said, picking up her belt and stepping out of her office, her five accomplices following along behind her.  
  
Brady Black was as good as dead. If her friends wanted the money so much, then it was as good as theirs.  
  
DiMeras never lost...especially Raven DiMera. 


	3. Chapter 2

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"What do you mean we can't just search and destroy!" Raven spat, raising her arms in exasperation. She pounded her fist on the table, then stood up, slowly walking around the chair where Stephano's messenger sat.  
  
"I told you, Raven. Brady Black is a member of the United States Secret Service. I'll be damned if you can find him alone, without any accomplices. There are probably people working undercover everywhere. I'm telling you, you have to tread lightly." The man said, cowering slightly in his chair. Stephano had been right when he had said that his daughter could intimidate the hell out of people. Even to someone as big and buff as the messenger, Raven was a monster.  
  
Raven caught his terrified look and smiled deviously, as if she were able to read his thoughts. She sat back down in her seat and leaned in towards him.  
  
"Alright then." Raven said, the evil glint disappearing from her eyes. "What does Stephano propose that we do?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and edging the messenger to go on.  
  
"Stephano said that you would be able to figure something out."  
  
"Stephano said that now did he?" Raven said, smiling sweetly. "He's just the smartest man I've ever known. What great mental power he must have needed to have told you that."  
  
The messenger became confused at her remark, but nodded his head in agreement. Raven continued to smile, looking as if she were in deep thought. Then her very monstrous self replaced the short spell of civilness once again.  
  
"Well then, you can tell Stephano…" She said, enunciating the name as if it were something that felt dirty in her mouth, "That I am sick and tired of doing all the thinking. I thought he was the big criminal master-mind here."  
  
"I don't think he would like that ma'am." The messenger said.  
  
"I don't care. He can't do anything to me; I'm his daughter. Now you go and tell him that, but also tell him that I am taking the initiative to figure something out this time…" Raven concluded. Then she waved the man off and he disappeared out the door of her office.  
  
Later that day, Kyra came into her office carrying a portfolio of some sort. She walked over to Raven's desk and threw it down in front of her.  
  
"This is the man we're after." She said, opening it up and letting Raven catch a glimpse of the photographs.  
  
They portrayed a tall blond man with a very good build and the bluest eyes that either of the women had ever seen.  
  
"That's him?" Raven said, not in the least bit amused.  
  
"Yes. The photographs were sent over this morning by some of Stephano's men."  
  
Raven laughed. "He's merely more than a helpless puppy dog. He'll be a piece of cake. It's just his entourage that's gotten me to worrying." Raven said, playing with the pistol that jutted out from her belt.  
  
This was a pretty typical mission for this gang of mercenaries, but never had they actually had to kill someone who looked half-decent.  
  
"Such a shame." Raven said, clicking her tongue. "To have to kill a man as beautiful as Mr. Black here." She closed the portfolio and handed it back to Kyra. Kyra nodded in agreement to her statement, but she would always be partial to Matrix.  
  
And so it was set, they knew who they were after, where he was and what he did; now the hard part was how to go about doing what they were planning. It would definitely be more than a difficult task to go after someone in the secret service, but when Raven had her mind set on something, then it would be done. She got to work right away on some sort of plan to get in there and snatch Brady Black. She called Mya into her office and sat with the two other women of her force, discussing what they could do. It was a strange feeling that Raven had, but to her men could not be thoroughly trusted. Why? She thought that perhaps they might betray her to other men, especially since she bad-mouthed Stephano behind his back all the time.  
  
"So, have you any ideas?" Raven asked, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger. That was a habit of hers, and it made her look so innocent that everyone thought that they were the ones who controlled her.  
  
"I think we should just take them by storm. We can round up our men and we would have the element of surprise." Mya suggested, hoping that maybe this would get her on Raven's good side.  
  
"That's possible…" Raven said, seriously considering the subject. Mya smiled.  
  
"That is if you don't mind committing suicide." Raven finished. Mya looked confused, but shut her mouth. Of course that would have been a rather stupid thing to do considering the fact that their fortress contained no more than about fifty agents while the United States Secret Service must have contained thousands of officers.  
  
Kyra snickered at Mya's suggestion then gave her own take on the situation.  
  
"I say that we stay back and watch them for a while, learn their habits, weaknesses, that sort of thing. When we have gathered enough information we can bring our victim down."  
  
"Well…that would take too long. We might have to watch them for weeks, and how would we get so close?" Raven said, directing the question to the two girls before her. Both of them shrugged.  
  
Just as Raven was about to continue speaking, Matrix and Hawk burst through her door carrying a fax.  
  
Raven, Mya and Kyra looked up, surprised by their sudden actions.  
  
"Raven! They're on to us, they know we're coming!" Hawk said, holding up the fax that they had just received.  
  
"Woah! Slow down and start again…" Raven said, becoming concerned. She stood up and walked over to the two men.  
  
"The Secret Service, they know that someone is after one of their chief officers! They have even gone so far as to narrow the bounty hunters down to mercenaries from the DiMera clan." Matrix explained.  
  
"Damnit…" Raven said, turning around and walking towards the small television screens dotting her wall. Each portrayed her workers, their offices and some even showed the alley that lay above them. She was silent for a while. Then she whirled back around and faced them all.  
  
"We're going in…" She said, adjusting her belt of arsenals. "Undercover." 


	4. Chapter 3

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The next day, Raven, Hawk, Matrix, Kyra and Mya stood at the entrance of their fortress.  
  
"Alright. We're keeping our names, but you will use the last names and identification that I have had created for you. My father's plane is coming over to pick us up in about fifteen minutes. Be sure to keep your weapons well hidden and always wear your hair down. They know that Stephano's women always wear their hair up." Raven clarified, pulling at the hem of the blue sundress she was wearing.  
  
"You don't…" Mya said.  
  
"They don't know that." Raven said, pulling the sun hat over her curled hair. "Besides, they won't recognize me in this get-up. I look like some country goody-good." She said in disgust.  
  
"Actually that dress looks quite becoming on you. It brings out your eyes." Hawk remarked, tilting his head to the side and examining her.  
  
"You can't be serious…" Raven said, giving him a dirty look. "Look how short it is! And I don't like dresses…I prefer my black pants any day."  
  
"Don't be so critical. Besides, those are some pretty nice legs you have there…where've you been hiding those?"  
  
Hawk had to duck quickly because Raven aimed her shoe at his head. She wasn't really one for compliments, while any other girl would have blushed and giggled at the things that Hawk had said to Raven. They must have been the strangest couple ever. One was a devil, and the other was a mushy flirt. How Hawk had been able to charm his way into Raven's life was a mystery to all, but their only explanation was that they had always been together. Now when Stephano had created the memories for Hawk, he hadn't expected him to still have short periods of time when he was still very much like Phillip Kiriakis.  
  
Hawk was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and baggy shorts while Matrix wore baggy jeans and a white muscle shirt. Mya and Kyra both wore sundresses as well, though Mya's was a mottled purple and Kyra's a pastel pink.  
  
Kyra stood with Matrix with her eyebrows raised at Hawk's back. The man was really out of it sometimes. Mya just rolled her eyes, and after Hawk ducked the shoe caught her in the stomach. Raven froze, then shrugged her shoulders, bending down beside a hurting Mya to pick up her shoe.  
  
Stephano's plane came soon, and they all boarded it on a b-line to New York City. The Secret Service had a secret agency somewhere in its depths, and it was now their mission to seek it without attracting too much attention. Stephano had already contacted Raven the night before and had booked two deluxe suites for them. There was no way he was letting Hawk stay in the same hotel room as his daughter. Upon arriving in New York, they were to check into their hotels and hide their weapons carefully before being given further instruction by Raven.  
  
The hotel was one that served only the richest people. The floors were marble, there were platinum chandeliers in the front hallway which was lined with the most intricate carpets and the finest tables and chairs, and there were even a dozen waiters who patrolled the halls offering peanuts. When the five undercover agents arrived inside the building, they were greeted by several bellhops who were more than happy to carry their belongings up to their rooms. Raven strictly refused their offers. Their luggage was filled with many things that could not be seen let alone touched by anyone else. What's more is one of the suitcases contained a small tube of nitrogen, prepared to explode at any sudden movement.  
  
They split up into their rooms and went about stashing their things right away. They stowed things between their mattresses and in the folds of their clothing. Raven emptied a bottle of rum and carefully placed the tube of nitrogen inside it, placing it on a bookshelf between the many books that the hotels had to offer them. Between them, it took about two hours to completely hide everything.  
  
They met in the dining hall for lunch and asked that a tale be prepared for them in a secluded corner, away from the rest of the tourists in the hotel. The table was readied quickly and they all sat down to an exquisite lunch, while keeping their voices low as they discussed what their next move would be.  
  
"I don't know yet…" Raven whispered, poking the fillet mignon on her plate. "Do we know where we might be able to find their base?" He eyes traveled around the table while each of her accomplices gave a shrug of their shoulders. Her eyes fell on Kyra who had her eyes glued on something across the room. Raven's eyes as well as everyone else's followed Kyra's gaze and they all fell upon to men who were talking quietly in a corner of the room.  
  
"What are they saying?" Mya asked.  
  
"Shhhhh…Look, there's something sticking out of his pocket. It looks like a badge…" Matrix whispered, focusing in on the small golden trinket.  
  
Kyra removed a small hearing piece from her ear and leaned in towards the rest of her group.  
  
"They're with the Secret Service. I heard it all. They think that someone may be hiding in this building because the hotel unexpectedly received a large sum of money for an extended stay. The hotel will not tell them who it was that paid them the cash, but I don't think that they even know. We're going to have to keep a low profile from now on." She said, dropping the piece in her purse and turning her head towards her fellow agents, though they all kept their eyes on the two men.  
  
One of the men had his back turned to them, though the other one was a small, somewhat chubby redhead. The other man was tall and had blonde hair. They continued to talk for a while, not noticing the fact that almost everyone in the room had their eyes on them. Finally they stopped. The blond man turned and looked around the room, seeing if anyone was watching. All five DiMera followers were able to turn away before he caught them, but Raven watched the man from the corner of her eye. She gasped when she caught a glimpse of his face.  
  
"That's him!"She whispered to the people at her table before standing up and fixing her dress as she tried not to draw too much attention to herself. Then she told her friends to follow behind her but keep a fair distance away before she too disappeared out the door.  
  
Raven shook her head as she stepped outside into the sunshine.  
  
"How stupid can you possibly be…going out in public when so many want your blood." 


	5. Chapter 4

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Raven walked casually down the street, keeping her eyes on the tall man, which was not too difficult even on a crowded street. She quickly brainstormed a few ways to meet him without running after him and calling his name. She quickened her pace when the two men turned a corner and looked back behind her, motioning for her friends to hurry up. It appeared as thought the men were headed towards Central Park. Raven grinned; she had been there before on other missions and knew her way around quite well. She took note of the path that the men were taking then quickly took a detour around the park, hoping to meet up with them as she came down the opposite end.  
  
As she came back down the path, she once again caught sight of the two men. They appeared to have slowed their pace and were talking light-heartedly about the weather. She grinned maliciously. As she came closer to them, she wiped the smile off of her face and instead replaced it with a small look of pure innocence. Mya and Kyra watched her from the bushes and nodded in admiration. If they hadn't known better they would have honestly said that the girl had a split personality. Raven noticed them as she walked casually down the path and winked.  
  
The two men didn't give Raven more than a captivated glance before she put her plan into action. Just as she walked passed them, she made herself trip over a rock and fall right into Brady Black's arms. He seemed startled at first, but when the full impact of what had actually happened hit him he helped Raven back to a standing position and bent down to pick up her hat which had flown off in her fall at the same time as its owner. Raven purposely pulled the top of her dress down a little as she bent to pick up her hat. Unfortunately the intent of her actions wasn't experienced by Brady but by his accomplice instead as he got a full view of her cleavage. She gave the plump little redhead an offended look and rolled her eyes at him once she had bent her head back down towards her hat. Obviously she would have to try again. As she reached for sun hat, she touched Brady's hand with hers. He looked up to meet her eyes and gave her a small smile. Raven smiled sweetly and picked up her hat, taking Brady's hand as he helped her back up.  
  
"I'm sorry…" Raven said, biting her lip. "I really didn't mean to do that."  
  
"Oh, that's all right. Pretty girls fall all over me every day." Brady said, grinning. Raven giggled, and she felt her cheeks blush which really added to her desired effect all though it confused her and her friends who were watching from the bushes.  
  
"I thought she didn't take too well to compliments…" Kyra said.  
  
"Only when they're from Hawk." Matrix whispered, feeling a sharp slap on his back as Hawk threw a rock at him.  
  
"Shutup will you? I'm trying to hear what she's saying. The girl's a genius…" Mya said, pushing a few leaves back to get a clearer view of the three people stopped on the sidewalk.  
  
"Are you all right?" Brady asked, a concerned look clouding his brilliant blue eyes.  
  
Raven thought fast. "Oh...um...OW!" She walked around and her ankle gave way beneath her. Brady caught her before she fell and hung on to her.  
  
"Um, guess not..." Raven said, using his shoulder for support as she regained her poised position.  
  
"Oh, well I don't want you to be left to walk on that by yourself..." Brady said.  
  
"It's okay, really. I don't want you to spend any more of your time on me." Raven insisted, giving her hair a little flip and smiling up at him.  
  
"No, no. Will you let me but you a coffee or something?" He said, his eyes looking directly into Raven's. Raven saw something in his eyes that she had never seen before, though she immediately shook those thoughts out of her mind. To an evil person, thinking thoughts like those that had just run through her mind weren't permitted.  
  
"Oh, all right. I guess if it's only for a coffee..." Raven said. This would be a good chance for her to find out his weaknesses, but it was hard to kill a person that you knew, especially if you grew to like that person. She slowly took Brady's waiting hand.  
  
"Larry, will you tell the office that I'm taking my break now?"  
  
The redheaded man nodded and took off in the other direction. Raven motioned for Matrix and Hawk to follow him when Brady's back was turned. Then she took off down the path with the man who held the biggest bounty in America.  
  
Mya gaped at them then turned to Kyra.  
  
"Did I just see what I thought I saw? I think Raven has the hots for this guy!" She said, her eyebrows raised in disbelief.  
  
"No she doesn't. It's all an act." Kyra corrected, feeling the need to protect her boss from Mya's senseless babbling.  
  
Mya rolled her eyes and gave a little sigh.  
  
"Whatever you say Kyra. Did you see her blush? Raven never blushes."  
  
"Pure coincidence. Maybe she was holding her breath. Now drop it." Kyra said, emerging from the bushes and taking off down the path, back to their hotel suite. Mya stood in her hidden position, sneaking around down the edge of the path but then gave that up al together as she too jumped out of the bushes and back to the hotel after Kyra.  
  
Down the street, Brady had taken Raven to a small Café lining the edge of Central Park. He bought her desired Café Mocha then sat down with her on a bench just outside the shop.  
  
"Anyway, I'm sorry. I never got a proper chance to introduce myself." Brady said, swirling his coffee around with a stir stick. "I'm Brady." He held out his hand.  
  
Raven smiled as best she could. "Raven." She said in a singsong voice, taking Brady's hand.  
  
"Raven…such a unique name." Brady said, taking a sip of his coffee. Raven nodded her head, unsure of whether or not to return the compliment. She wasn't used to being nice to people, and her mission called for more than just being nice.  
  
"Oh, thank you. I could say the same for yours?"  
  
Brady paused for a moment, then nodded his head as he flashed Raven a smile. Raven sat silently as she finished her drink, pulling her hat down over her eyes as the sun's rays made their way into her face. Upon finishing her drink, she tossed it into the trash bin as she stood up to fix her dress.  
  
"Well, thank you for the coffee. I hope we can meet up again sometime?" She gushed, looking up at Brady with smiling eyes.  
  
"Yeah, I think that can be arranged. What's your number?"  
  
Raven dug into her purse and pulled out a pen. Then she took Brady's hand and wrote down her cell phone number. "You can reach me here." She said, then turned and started walking away without a backward glance.  
  
Brady watched her go, catching a glimpse of something black strapped to her leg just above the hem of her dress. Then he turned and started walking in the opposite direction.  
  
"Country goody-good my ass."  
  
Raven made it back up into her hotel room and closed the door with a sharp click behind her. All of her associates were gathered in the girl's room.  
  
"Back so soon?" Hawk said, raising his eyebrow at Raven from his seat.  
  
"Would you rather I spend the whole night with Brady? I will if that's what you'd like." She said, grinning evilly at him.  
  
"What was the point of that? Since when do you need to charm a guy to get a coffee?" Hawk argued.  
  
"Hawk, honey! You think so low of me…" She said, reaching into her purse.  
  
She held up Brady Black's wallet. 


	6. Chapter 5

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"Woah, he has enough stuff huh?" Mya said, looking over Raven's shoulder as she dissected the wallet. Photographs, phone numbers, loose change, a few bills, newspaper cutouts, addresses and even gum wrappers fell out of the dark depths of the black leather pouch.  
  
"What the hell…" Raven exclaimed as a dark, rectangular object fell out of a hidden compartment. "A palm pilot! Where did that come from!" Raven picked it up and opened up the small computer-like device.  
  
"What kind of an idiot leaves a palm pilot in their wallet!" Hawk spat, not believing his girlfriend's luck. Raven paused and looked over the compact computer.  
  
"Obviously one that expects it to be stolen…" Raven concluded, holding the small screen up to Hawk. "Read this…"  
  
"Ok…'You've been fooled! Need I tell you now that this is not a Palm Pilot but a tracking device?'" Hawk gaped at the screen.  
  
"Damn Secret Service agents." Raven said, taking the palm pilot again from Hawk's hands. She looked over its surface in an attempt to find a way to defuse the tracker, but to no avail. She walked over to the window of their room and opened it up, looking down at the street below. Then in one quick movement she threw the tracking device as far as she could. It landed with a loud clattering sound in a chimney across the street. Raven watched until she heard a satisfying cry of shock from the inhabitants of the building then closed the window, returning to her seat.  
  
"Well, that takes care of that. Basically, this wallet is really no use to us. Now I probably should have guessed that, but it must have slipped my mind." She concluded, picking through the contents of the wallet.  
  
"Are you saying that your little venture with Mr. Black was completely pointless? Why didn't you just shoot him then and there?" Hawk asked, leaning back against his chair.  
  
Raven whirled on him and gave him the evil eye. Then her expression softened a little.  
  
"Well, Hawk…let me see. The middle of Central Park with tons of witnesses…now that is the best scenario for murder isn't it?" Raven said sarcastically, rubbing her chin as if deeply taking Hawk's words into consideration.  
  
"Why were you carrying a gun with you then?" Mya asked, pointing to the dark object strapped to Raven's leg just above the hem of her skirt. Raven looked down at her leg and smiled, removing the gun and taking it in her hand.  
  
"I don't know." She said slowly, pausing after her words and biting her lip innocently. "In case I want to use it?" She pointed the gun at Mya who cowered into a corner of the room. Kyra and Matrix gaped at the gun in shock. They had never been victims to one of Raven's guns before, not even if it were only teasing. Raven administered her famous eyeroll and put the gun on the table, pushing all of the Brady Black memorabilia onto the floor.  
  
"I think Brady's on to you." Matrix said simply, shrugging his shoulders.  
  
"What makes you say that?" Raven asked suspiciously, raising her eyebrow at Matrix.  
  
"Well, when Brady sent that redhead man…Larry I think it was, to tell the boss that he was taking his break now, that wasn't what he did. Instead he rounded up about five armed men and returned to the park. You and Brady were gone by then, but I think that Brady had spoken in some sort of code…telling Larry to bring back up cause something was up."  
  
Raven's eyes were wide as she listened to the story. She leaned her elbow against the table and drummed her fingers, thinking hard. What indication had she given Brady that perhaps she wasn't a New York innocent?  
  
"What would make him so suspicious? I didn't look evil when I was talking to him did I?" She asked, looking down at her outfit.  
  
"No, you look perfectly fine. But, he may have caught sight of us in the bushes, perhaps seen us in the restaurant of the hotel knowing already that someone suspicious was staying there. Or maybe he even saw that gun that was strapped to your leg." Kyra suggested, picking up the loose change from Brady's wallet as she pointed to the gun on the table. Raven paused, considering the possibilities.  
  
"Well, that really puts a damper on things. I guess we'll have to move things along faster than planned."  
  
"Now that is something I can help with." Hawk said, raising his hand. "Larry and his five armed buddies were talking about some sort of party that a whole group of secret service agents were going to tonight to unwind. I'm pretty sure he mentioned something about Brady Black going there too. It's open to anyone who wishes to go. Of course no one would know that they are from the secret service, so it will be like a normal, semi-formal night on the town."  
  
Raven smiled and nodded her head. She stood up and walked over to Hawk, slumping down on his lap and wrapping her arms around him.  
  
"Now you're talking. You're so smart when you're not being stupid!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek. It took a minute for Hawk to quite understand what Raven said but in the end he nodded and smiled at the compliment…at least he thought it was a compliment.  
  
"Do we really have to see this?" Mya asked rolling her eyes.  
  
"See what Mya…" Raven asked, turning her once again icy glare on her employee.  
  
"For crying out loud Mya, they're not doing anything." Kyra said, crossing her arms over her chest. "This from someone who thinks she has the hots for another guy…" She rolled her eyes.  
  
"What? Who!" Matrix asked, giving Kyra a suspicious look. Kyra shook her head and looked over at Mya as she sat down beside Matrix.  
  
"Yes…" Raven said, standing up off of Hawk's lap. "Do tell…" She stood in front of Mya with her hands on her hips, glaring at her associate. Mya looked up into her icy eyes then over at the three people behind her. Then the words poured out of her all at once.  
  
"IthinkyouhavethehotsforBradyBlack!"  
  
Raven drew back at Mya's sudden outburst, shocked by her courage to even suggest a thing like that. Though, her snappy mood was somewhat softened at her theory.  
  
"I guess you would think that."  
  
Raven turned and disappeared into the bathroom. Then she called through the heavy oak door:  
  
"Get some decent clothes! We're going to a party tonight." 


	7. Chapter 6

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Kyra sat with Matrix on the couch in the men's suite while they waited for the remainder of their gang to finish getting ready for the party. Mya and Hawk came prancing out of their rooms around the same time, leaving no one but Raven yet to emerge in her semi-formal evening party-wear. Hawk sat down across from Matrix and Kyra, putting his feet up on the cherry-wood of the coffee table.  
  
"That girl would take all night if we let her." Mya said, eyeing the closed door to her shared dorm with Kyra and Raven. Hawk nodded in response to her comment, though this side of Raven only showed when it had to. Usually Raven would wear her uniform and change in a matter of minutes, but when she needed to look pretty, she made herself look pretty no matter how long it took.  
  
"Maybe I should see if she needs so help?" Kyra said softly, standing up. "Maybe her zipper is stuck."  
  
"No, don't bother. She'll be out soon. She's already dressed…she's just fiddling with her hair." Mya said, leaning back against the plush pillows of the chesterfield. She subconsciously tugged at the thin golden chain that hung around her neck.  
  
"You're going to break that." Matrix said matter-of-factly, eyeing the necklace Mya was wearing.  
  
"Am not. The little gold rings are securely linked. I'm sure it can hold my persistent tugging, now if you would kindly stop being a nag…"  
  
Matrix raised his eyebrows, not sure if Mya was being sarcastic or not. It was hard to tell when she was trying to sound smart by using big words. He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the little blonde sitting beside him instead.  
  
Hawk changed positions on the couch, trying to get a little more comfortable. He wasn't accustomed to waiting, and he didn't like it one bit. Especially since he found that the seating in the hotel suite was not in the least bit pleasing to his needs. Just as he was about to get up and drag Raven from her room, she opened the door slowly, walking into the full view of her associates.  
  
Hawk gaped. "You're wearing that?! What's the occasion!"  
  
Raven rolled her eyes. She wore a short silver dress that was very tight fitting and was held up with two thin straps. The back was open with a medley of criss-crossed silver straps lining Raven's tanned skin. She wore silver sandals with long ties that twisted around her leg to about mid- calf. Her hair was down in loose curls, framing her face.  
  
"Wow…we've gone from country goody-good to ten cent whore in ten seconds flat!" Mya said in mock enthusiasm, crossing her arms over her chest. Raven lifted the skirt of her dress and showed Mya the lovely little revolver that was pressed against her thigh. Mya closed her mouth immediately.  
  
"Why do you have the gun today? Do you plan on making your move?" Kyra asked.  
  
"I don't have a choice. If Brady's already on to me, then I have to act fast. He dies tonight." Raven concluded.  
  
"That doesn't explain your choice of clothes." Hawk said, getting impatient.  
  
Raven turned her head and faced the man sitting on the couch. "My choice of clothes is none of your business." She stated simply, giving him an icy glare. Hawk shrugged.  
  
"Anyway, Brady can do nothing but be suspicious of me. There is nothing else he can do." Raven explained, tugging at the hair that hung loosely over her shoulder.  
  
"What if he's so suspicious he does a strip search?" Mya said smugly, laughing at the thought of a police officer running his hands up and down Raven's body.  
  
"So what? I doubt he'll feel around the inside of my thigh. They can't use their jobs to their advantage like that." Raven said, sitting down primly on the couch. She gave a mocking look towards Mya.  
  
"You don't have a problem with him searching you with his filthy hands?"  
  
"Filthy? Hardly. But no, if push comes to shove I guess I'll have to live with it. It's really not that big a deal."  
  
Hawk rolled his eyes at the remark. If Raven had no problem with other men feeling her, then why was she still a one-man girl? She was so hard to figure out sometimes, and her mood swings or split personalities or whatever they were only muddled up her life even more. He opened up his pocketknife and ran the keen blade over his finger, testing its sharpness. Maybe he could get a piece of this Brady Black for himself and keep him away from Raven for the night. As long as she got close enough to kill him before the party was through. He could already see by the way that she was acting that Brady was bad news for him.  
  
Kyra's eyes wandered around the faces of the room. Mya seemed to be pushing herself as far away from Raven as she could. Matrix was sitting calmly with his arm around Kyra. Raven was glaring at everyone and laughing slyly to herself. Hawk seemed to be having a mental battle with himself as he continually opened and closed his pocketknife after becoming bored of testing its sharpness. Kyra jumped when she heard a loud cracking sound outside their window. Raven turned her head towards the noise.  
  
"Just a bird." She said quietly. Then she laughed. "Just a really stupid bird."  
  
Matrix lifted his eyes from the crystal centerpiece in the middle of the coffee table and watched Raven slowly twist a thin silver thread around her finger.  
  
"Well then…" Raven said, looking down at her watch. "I think it's time we got going." She stood up and started walking towards the door.  
  
"Wait! Are you sure we want to do this? It could be a mistake; it could completely blow our cover." Mya said worriedly.  
  
"Trust me…" Raven said reassuringly, "Everything is going to go according to plan." 


	8. Chapter 7

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 7  
  
"A cab? How tacky."  
  
"This is New York you idiot! Everyone takes a cab." Ravens said, rolling her eyes at Mya. "Besides, you don't have the money, my father does. Learn to live like a normal person."  
  
"Are you saying I'm not normal?" Mya said, looking offended and placing her hands on her hips.  
  
"In simple terms…yes." Raven spat, turning on her heel and stepping into the cab behind Matrix. Mya seethed on the sidewalk, then finally hopped into the cab. It was rather crowded on the inside. It wouldn't have been if Raven hadn't insisted that they only take one taxi. Kyra had to sit on Matrix's lap beside Hawk and Mya. The only ones with a comfortable seat were the driver and Raven who had stolen the front seat. The drive to the party wasn't too bad thought, except for the fact that the driver smoked and Raven insisted that he go on with his daily habits and try to look normal. All four people in the back seat were coughing and sputtering the whole ride.  
  
The party was being held at a large club near the Statue of Liberty. She was visible through the windows of the smoky cab as they flew by. Raven examined the statue carefully, as if something were dawning on her, then just shrugged and let whatever it was she was thinking about pass.  
  
"Alright. This is the stop, everybody out." The cab driver said between puffs of his cigarette. Raven motioned for everyone to follow her out of the cab. As the driver sat waiting expectantly for his money, Raven rummaged around in her purse.  
  
"Well it seems that I have nothing but this." She held up a crisp hundred- dollar bill.  
  
The driver's eyes widened at the marvelous sight. "Well, um…er-- I have no change." He said gruffly.  
  
"Here then, take it." Raven handed him the bill and turned, following everyone into the building, not looking back once to see the dumbfounded expression on the cab driver's face as he clasped the bill greedily in his hand.  
  
Inside, Mya gave Raven a strange look.  
  
"You gave him a hundred dollars for a lousy ride?"  
  
"Relax, it was counterfeit." Raven gave a light flip of her hair and took off through the long corridor that led to the noise-filled party room. Mya exchanged confused looks with the rest of her clan before following Raven who was already disappearing behind a heavy pair of wooden doors. In the short span of time that the door was opened, a blast of loud music echoed through the emptiness of the hallway.  
  
Raven glanced around the crowded room, looking for any sign that Brady might be there. She checked to see that her revolver was securely fastened and hidden from the view of New York's innocents. She heard the door open and close behind her as her friends walked into the dimly lit room behind her. She turned to face them and gave them a strange look.  
  
"Stay out of the way…" She said in a low tone. "If Brady sees you, he may be able to piece all of this together. Not this room is big enough for you to never cross paths. I'm guessing he will be in that corner over there…" She pointed at a far corner of the room. "I can already see the flaming red of Larry's hair."  
  
"You want to do this on your own?" Kyra asked quietly.  
  
Raven nodded her head and shoved them off in the opposite direction as she walked into the thick crowd of people. The music was loud, the room was hot…Raven wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.  
  
Among the many muted faces  
  
You try to find me in the spaces  
  
You're drawn to my song  
  
You only move to keep from sinking  
  
You close your eyes as if you're thinking  
  
Afraid all along  
  
That in my eyes you're revealing  
  
You'll find what you're needing  
  
Raven pushed her way through a group of feminists as they examined the distasteful outfits the women were wearing. They gave a huff as Raven walked by and they got a full view of her dress. They huffed louder when she stalked off, rolling her eyes, her bare back visible behind the jungle of criss-crossing silver straps. Raven didn't give them a second glance, knowing they would probably all be glaring at her. Instead, she focused in on her task: finding Brady.  
  
Nothing but pennies in my pocket  
  
Nothing but faith to keep me warm  
  
But, baby, then I'd be broke without it  
  
Tell me, how much for your love  
  
Stick my heart in your back pocket  
  
All I've got to keep you warm  
  
Baby don't leave me here without it  
  
Tell me how much for your love  
  
Raven craned her neck around a dancing couple, her piercing blue eyes examining the rows of people against the walls.  
  
No sign of Brady…yet. She was going to find him no matter what it took; even if she had to walk through a preaching crowd of Rabbis to accomplish her task.  
  
Hoping the melody will leave you  
  
You walk to where I might not see you  
  
Reach out to the wind  
  
Looking to catch it for a minute  
  
But just to hold it not be in it  
  
I've been where you've been  
  
Cause somehow I'm so afraid love will reveal what you're made of  
  
Raven looked back to see if her friends were still in sight, but they were not. She was in the middle of a swarming mass of people she had never seen before, all sense of direction lost if it weren't for the fact that the far wall seemed to be getting closer.  
  
Nothing but pennies in my pocket  
  
Nothing but faith to keep me warm  
  
But, baby, then I'd be broke without it  
  
Tell me, how much for your love  
  
Stick my heart in your back pocket  
  
All I've got to keep you warm  
  
Baby don't leave me here without it  
  
Tell me how much for…your love  
  
Raven's eyes caught the unmistakably blond hair streak across the far side of the room. It was without a doubt Brady Black; no one else had such golden hair… Raven made a funny face and smacked the thoughts that invaded her head as far away from her as she could. The song they were playing didn't help very much either. It gave her ideas; she didn't like to get ideas. Especially ideas about buying someone's love with pennies.  
  
Nothing but pennies in my pocket  
  
Baby then I'd be broke without it  
  
Stick my heart in your back pocket  
  
Baby don't leave me here without it  
  
How much for your love…  
  
Raven stopped by a small round table near the section that was most likely reserved for Brady's group of friends. She leaned her shoulder up against the cool dark-colored wall and sighed, shaking her head. Why did she have to kill him? Couldn't she just get him to join her ranks in the world of crime?  
  
Raven shook her head at the questions that arose in her head. They were stupid questions; mercenaries knew no compromise, they only knew to kill. Instead, she thought of what she would obtain by killing Brady. Not only was everyone after him, his slaying would bring her millions. She stood still, her shoulder still up against the wall and watched Brady with narrowed eyes. She didn't want to seem too suspicious, so she looked out onto the crowd whenever he would turn his head ever so slightly and perhaps be able to see her with his peripheral vision.  
  
Brady rose slowly from his chair, his back turned to Raven. She guessed he probably hadn't seen her yet. But then again she couldn't be sure, you could never trust a secret service agent. Especially this one in particular…what went on in his mind was known to him, and only him.  
  
He looked down at a woman sitting across from him at his table and appeared to have said something but the music drowned him out, though the distinct expression on the woman's face told Raven immediately that either he had been flirting…or had said something pretty funny. Funny enough for the woman's cheeks to flush a deep red. Maybe this was his girlfriend? It was possible. Raven figured it would be pretty much impossible for Brady to be single. And then there she was again, scolding herself for thinking the thoughts that she was. She looked down at her hands and mumbled something under her breath, unaware that Brady was out on the dance floor with that girl. She looked up to see him with his arms lovingly around the small brunette. Raven raised her eyes to the ceiling and groaned. Most likely because she knew that her mission could take all night. Though the reason for her unenthusiastic response to the pair out on the floor held a more personal meaning. For a strange reason, she felt drawn to him.  
  
Raven looked down and pulled a loose thread from her dress, smoothing out the ripples in the soft, argentine fabric. She wrapped the thread tightly around her finger then unraveled it, only to wrap it around her finger again. It was a habit of hers; a rather silly one but a habit nonetheless. She unwound the silver thread to reveal small, twisting lines embedded in her skin. She pressed her thumb against her finger, watching as her skin grew white, then back to its original color as she released the pressure. She let the string drop from her hands and settle somewhere around her feet.  
  
"Excuse me miss, would you like to dance?" Raven jumped at the voice. She came face to face with a rather tall, dark and handsome man. Any other day she would have jumped at the chance to dance with him but today, it wasn't her first priority. She shook her and gave him a small smile, sending him off on his way. She watched as he stalked off and asked the next pretty girl he found to dance: Mya. Raven raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. She supposed that Mya could use some attention from the opposite sex once in a while, no matter how incredibly annoying she got.  
  
She could see her companions from where she stood. She watched Kyra and Matrix dancing together, appearing to be enjoying themselves immensely. They make such an adorable couple, Raven thought to herself, eyeing them admiringly. They deserved a break, and tonight they were getting it. Raven just hoped that she would be able to go through with her plans and not completely blow her cover. Mya was right to have worried, but Raven wouldn't let her think that she was smart enough to have figured that out. Raven, Mya, Matrix, Kyra and Hawk were well known in the world, but not as themselves. Just as five menacing shadows that crept over the land. Raven being the most menacing of all; called the black widow spider by those who knew friends or family that had tasted her wrath. And of course, the name fit her perfectly. Black widows were beautiful and deadly at the same time. In simpler terms, black widows were a distant relative of Raven DiMera.  
  
She didn't notice herself slink slowly into the nearest chair during the next few songs. She sat in complete silence, tapping her fingers lightly against the table. Her eyes were on the scratched wooden surface of the table, her mind zoned out of everything as she sat in complete boredom. She didn't even have to look out onto the dance floor to know that Brady was still with the little brunette; her screechy laughter could have killed a bird a thousand miles away.  
  
"Excuse me miss, would you like to dance?"  
  
Raven didn't even look up.  
  
"Didn't I tell you no mister? I'm busy." Raven said in an irritated tone of voice.  
  
"You don't look busy."  
  
Raven raised her eyes and was met not with a pair of dark brown ones, but by a pair of clear blue eyes that were watching her curiously. Raven was speechless to say the least. She hadn't seen him leave the little brunette he was dancing with, but there he was now, asking her for a dance. Should she? Should Raven have a dance with Brady Black, the very man she was expected to murder in cold blood that night? She thought about it. It was hard to kill someone you knew…she would have to keep in a strong state of mind and act normally, in hope that he would not suspect more than he already did.  
  
Brady held out his hand. Raven bit her lip, then took his hand with her own as he helped her up from her chair and led her out onto the dance floor for a quick dance. It was definitely a very confusing situation to be in. If Brady was so suspicious of her being someone who was out to kill him, then why did he want to dance with her? Unless he himself was after her. Perhaps there was a bounty on her head too, she could never be sure. But Brady worked for the good of mankind; he wasn't a bounty hunter.  
  
When the two of them got out into the crowd of dancing people, the song wasn't a slow and dancing song. It had a faster beat, but still meant as a partner song.  
  
**(OK! I have to add this note in. One of my broe fantasies was for Brady and Chloe to have danced to the song 'Dance with Me' at the Last Blast Dance 2001, but they didn't…so I guess they just have to now. Since I can't really describe this…try to imagine it ok?)**  
  
  
  
Oh come and dance with me my baby,  
  
Let's dance till we go crazy  
  
The night is young and so are we  
  
Let's make love and dance the night away  
  
What I really want to do  
  
Is just dance with you  
  
And feel your body touch  
  
I know how to do you right  
  
I'll show you every move  
  
I know just what to do  
  
Each step will feel so fine  
  
One dance and you'll be mine  
  
So baby when I hit the floor, you'll be asking for more,  
  
Let's make love, and dance the night away  
  
Oh come and dance with me my baby,  
  
Let's dance till we go crazy  
  
The night is young and so are we  
  
Let's make love and dance the night away  
  
The movement came so naturally that it scared Raven. It scared her as to how well they fit together. Such a shame…she thought. Such a shame this was Brady's last night in existence. If only his only purpose in life wasn't to uphold the law but to deny it.  
  
Oh put your hand in mine  
  
Promise I'll take my time  
  
We'll dance from head to toe  
  
I can dance fast or slow  
  
Baby look into my eyes  
  
Let the music hypnotize  
  
Let our bodies synchronize  
  
Once dance and you'll be mine  
  
So baby when I hit the floor, you'll be asking for more,  
  
Let's make love, and dance the night away  
  
Oh come and dance with me my baby,  
  
Let's dance till we go crazy  
  
The night is young and so are we  
  
Let's make love and dance the night away  
  
When it comes to dancing I don't want to move  
  
When it comes to passion I know just what to do  
  
I feel the music inside, I feel like I am alive  
  
It feels so right, let's make love  
  
Oh come and dance with me my baby,  
  
1 Let's dance till we go crazy  
  
The night is young and so are we  
  
Let's make love and dance the night away  
  
The dance ended with Raven and Brady's faces inches apart. A million thoughts ran through Raven's head. If these were Brady's battle tactics, then he was one damn good secret agent. After a few moments of complete awkwardness, Raven pulled back and cleared her throat, avoiding Brady's gaze. This was definitely not a good situation to get yourself into with someone to whom you were about to play Grim Reaper.  
  
Raven unconsciously tugged at one of her curls as Brady eyed her curiously. He always eyed her curiously. It was as if she was a puzzle that he couldn't quite put together. Raven took this as her chance to fulfill her duties. She bolted suddenly and stumbled out the back exit of the room. Brady seemed confused at first, but in a few seconds he took off after her.  
  
Raven was waiting with her back to him. It was when she was quiet that Brady became suspicious again. She stood in the cool summer breeze, looking out into the back alleyways of the club. They were pretty much empty besides the lone black cat that slinked noiselessly through the overturned trash bins, casting eerie shadows on the semi-lit walls of the alleyway. Brady walked slowly up behind Raven, his hand hovering over the gun that sat snugly in his pant pocket. He couldn't tell what it was, but she was holding something.  
  
Raven knew he was behind her. She could see his shadow on the wall in front of her. He had a gun in his pocket, she could tell that much. Her hand gripped her small, black revolver as she kept her eyes on Brady's shadow. Brady slowly lifted the gun from his pocket. Then, all at once, the gun was sitting smugly in his hand. Raven's eyes narrowed at the thought of him killing her before she killed him. She turned around quickly and two 'clicks' were heard in unison.  
  
Brady and Raven were both glowering at each other, guns raised and pointed at a menacing angle towards the other's head. 


	9. Chapter 8

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 8  
  
"You son of a bitch…" Raven hissed, never once letting down her guard as she stood in her gridlocked position opposite Brady. Her eyes pierced his, a staring contest already in full flight between the two.  
  
Brady rolled his eyes at her comment and scratched his forehead with his free hand.  
  
"Well, we wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for you now would we?" Brady said smugly, raising his eyebrow. He clicked his tongue mockingly, tilting his head to the side. "You've been a bad girl Raven."  
  
Raven scowled and shook her head. Shoot him? Don't shoot him. Shoot him? Don't shoot him. Shoot him? Don't shoot him. Brady was lucky that this was eating away at Raven's conscience otherwise he would have been six feet under by now. Usually Raven wouldn't have trouble killing someone, but this time around it was different. She couldn't explain it, and she would probably never be able to, but she seriously doubted that she could kill Brady Black. It just couldn't be done, not even by the greatest DiMera daughter to ever take up post under her father's lead.  
  
Inside the building, Kyra and Matrix were still dancing, though Kyra was getting a little edgy about Raven. It was hard not to wonder what your best friend was up to, especially in which case Raven was going up against a full-fledged secret service agent who was already suspicious of her clan. It was hard not to worry. Matrix sensed her getting edgy and gave her a reassuring pat on the back. Raven surely knew how to take care of herself, there was no doubt about that, but even he had seen the way she was acting when she was dancing with Brady. Neither Kyra nor Matrix had ever seen Raven so out there, perhaps for the first time doing something she actually wanted to do. She could deny all she wanted, but like Mya said, Raven, without a doubt, had the hots for Brady. Kyra wrapped her arms around Matrix's neck as the slowed in pace, and rested her chin on his shoulder. Maybe Kyra could play matchmaker. She wasn't too evil for that; in fact she really wasn't all that evil. She had gotten through her year of training and become a mercenary, but had never actually killed anyone. In fact no one ever did any slaying by hand except for Raven. Mya, Kyra, Matrix and Hawk were a pretty playful, mellow group of people. They didn't regret killing people, and they didn't think it was wrong…it was their life. But they would prefer to lead a normal life as a normal person rather than one where they were in constant 'follow-Raven' mode. Of course they could be living the high life for a while if Raven did dispose of Brady, and that in itself was a whole reason to stay in the crime business. That and the fact that they would, without a doubt, be in jail for life if they gave up their cover and backed out of their dark little world.  
  
Mya sighed and thanked the tall, dark man for the dance. She hadn't had a dance for a long time, though it was perhaps her favorite thing to do with her biggest obsession: guys. She had no steely will like Raven; she couldn't keep her mind on things. She wasn't a cold-blooded killer, and she often wondered why she didn't just wing-it and drop out of her little evil social world. She would probably be scarred for life from her experience as a mercenary, and this of course was the only life that she had every known. Or was it? She often pondered the question. If she had been strictly search and destroy, where had she learned to obsess over boys? Where was her family? Dead of course, at least by the DiMera standards. It appears as though Mya's parents had disappeared in a boating expedition deep in South Africa and never returned. Mya didn't classify them as 'dead', just missing. Had they been mercenaries before her? Or had they been normal folks…  
  
Mya sat down next to Hawk at a table they had claimed on upon their arrival. Hawk was staring straight ahead at the back exit of the dance room. Mya followed his gaze and looked at the small, blue fire exit curiously. In reality, it really wasn't all that interesting a thing to look at. In fact it was probably the blandest sight in the whole room. Mya looked over at Hawk who still had his eyes glued on the door as he fished his hand into his pocket.  
  
"What is it?" Mya asked in a low voice, thinking that maybe Hawk had seen something worthwhile. Hawk pulled his hand out of his pocket and flicked open his pocketknife.  
  
"Nothing you need to worry about." He growled, glaring at the door as if he were attempting to use x-ray vision to see through it. "I'm sure Raven is perfectly fine out there."  
  
"Raven is out there? What is she doing? I thought she was going to give Brady a taste of her pistol tonight."  
  
"He's out there with her." Hawk said, running the edge of his blade against the wooden table.  
  
"Well, her job is almost done then. We'll just have to get the body back and get our paycheck." Mya said, giving Hawk a strange look. "What are you so angry about?"  
  
Hawk shook his head and laughed maniacally to himself, his eyes never leaving the fire exit.  
  
"Raven isn't going to do any killing tonight."  
  
"Of course she is! That's what we came here to do in the first place."  
  
Hawk shrugged his shoulders closed his pocketknife, hiding it in the palm of his hand. "Raven's going soft on us. She's only known Brady for barely ten hours and she's going soft on us. That a$$hole…"  
  
Mya was taken aback by his words and narrowed her eyes in thought, her eyebrows furrowing. "What are you talking about? You mean the fact that she has the hots for someone she's supposed to kill?" She said simply.  
  
Hawk whipped his head around and glared at Mya. "She does not have the hots for him. Raven isn't that kind of person; she has too much power over people. Brady Black must be using some sort of witchcraft. Have you seen the way Raven looks at him? He probably slipped something in that coffee he bought her…"  
  
"Hawk! Will you listen to yourself? Brady is not using witchcraft! Nothing is going to go wrong, Raven had probably already shot the man by now!" She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation as Hawk slipped deeper into his jealous rage. She stood up and walked off into another corner of the room. Hawk sat stock still for a moment, seemingly recollecting his thoughts. Then he stood up and made a b-line for the emergency exit at the back of the room. He opened in slowly, trying as best he could to keep quiet as he peeked over the side. Brady had his back to him, but Raven was facing him. His eyes widened at the situation Raven was in. He closed the door behind him and stepped out onto the cracked pavement behind the club.  
  
Raven watched in horror as Hawk pulled out a knife and held it up, winking at her. She gave him a warning glance to get back inside. He shook his head and mouthed the words 'I want to help'. Raven tried to will him to get back into the club, but Hawk wasn't budging. He slunk slowly up behind Brady, raising his knife above his head just as he reached Brady's back.  
  
"Hawk, no!" Raven screamed, her cry startling Brady. Brady whipped his head around just in time to see Hawk make the knife come crashing down on his body. Hawk was going mad, and he stabbed Brady repeatedly in his shoulder. Brady gasped in pain, punching Hawk in the face. Hawk hit the floor and stood right back up again, Brady's blood trickling from his knife to his hands. Brady was already doubled over in pain. Hawk smiled deviously and went at him again with his knife.  
  
"What the hell!" Mya screamed, bursting through the fire exit. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight she saw. Hawk was rushing at a crippled Brady as Raven watched helplessly, her revolver clutched in her fist.  
  
Matrix and Kyra came rushing out the door behind Mya.  
  
"Hawk you idiot! What the hell are you doing!" Matrix roared as Hawk raised his arm to strike again.  
  
The next few seconds passed by in slow motion.  
  
Kyra looked over at Raven who had raised her gun and was pointing it at the two men battling it out.  
  
"Oh god, Raven no! Don't!"  
  
Too late. The unmistakable crack of Raven's revolver echoed off the walls of the narrow alleyway. Raven DiMera never missed her target. This was no exception. 


	10. Chapter 9

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Hawk fell to the ground with a bullet wound to his left shoulder, clutching it in pain. He looked in shock at the splotches of scarlet blood that started to seep through his shirt. He looked up at Raven, a pained expression etched into his face, his eyes taunting her with a simple question: Why?  
  
Raven's breathing grew shallow as she felt tears begin to form in the backs of her eyes.  
  
Kyra stood rooted to the spot, as shocked as everyone else. She couldn't believe what had just happened, and were those tears collecting in Raven's eyes? Raven never cried. This was too much for them to handle. Why would she choose to shoot Hawk and not Brady? Kyra didn't know what to do. She wanted to run and comfort Raven who seemed to be in extreme emotional shock, she wanted to go help Hawk who looked as if he were about to keel over and die, but she could do neither. She could do nothing but watch.  
  
Mya held a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming at what had been done. Raven was no different from the rest of them, and now she looked like a lost, little girl unsure of what she had done.  
  
Matrix shook his head, his mouth opening and closing silently. No words came to him. Why was it that all of sudden, they were all lost? Why couldn't they kill a single person when they had killed dozens at a time? Why was Raven losing her tough exterior and giving away instead to the emotions that she never showed to anyone, ever? Matrix's own gun sat, untouched, in his jacket pocket. He could not finish what Raven had started. No matter how much money was in it for them. This fight solely belonged to Raven now.  
  
Brady was frozen in place. A searing pain ran up the side of his body, blood soaking through his clothes. The gun he held in his hand dropped with a sharp slap to the ground, the cartridge rolling out of the black case and spilling the bullets everywhere. They rolled, the small golden trinkets, all over the ground. He looked at Hawk who had tears in his eyes from the immense pain that must have been surging through his shoulder at that moment. Then he looked up at Raven.  
  
Raven looked so alone as she stood there in her little silver dress, the wind picking up her hair and sending it out softly to the side. A curl blew across her face as a tear began to roll down her cheek. What had she done? What was wrong with her? She had chosen to shoot Hawk, someone whom she had classified as one of the most important in her life, over someone she barely knew? She held her ground as a small sob escaped her body. She held the small black revolver in both hands. She looked down at it; one of her most trusted weapons had betrayed her. She raised her arm in a sudden rage of anger and flung her shiny weapon of choice at the nearest wall. It hit the hard brick and fell to the ground. Raven stared at it silently. Then she fell to her knees and tilted her head to the ground, closing her eyes and letting her tears trickle slowly down her cheeks. She took no notice of the hard gravel beneath her knees, she thought no more of her image. She had made a mistake, and it was a big mistake indeed. Everything backfired, and it all blew up in her face. Brady was a secret service agent, and she couldn't kill him. He would most definitely go out into the world and tell of whatever information he had on the black widow spider and her group of freelance mercenaries. They were all doomed. Perhaps her friends would get out of this alive, but she would be sentenced to death no doubt. She needed help now, and there was only one mans who could give it to her: her father.  
  
After the first bout of shock wore off, Kyra walked silently towards Raven and knelt down beside her. Raven didn't look up. Kyra bit her lip and looked back at Matrix and Mya who shook their heads sadly as they walked slowly towards Hawk who had stopped squirming and now sat in deep thought on the ground, trying as best he could to keep his mind off the pain he was feeling. Kyra didn't take notice of their  
  
head-shaking. She was determined to talk to Raven, or at least get her to look up from the ground. She gently placed a hand on Raven's shoulder. Raven flinched, but didn't look up. This was going to be hard, especially since they were still all in a state of shock. When it really dawned on them what had happened she didn't doubt that she herself would be in hysterics. Her life was at stake now.  
  
Matrix and Mya lifted Hawk to his feet and each threw one of his arms around their shoulders. His wounded shoulder bled heavily onto Mya's arm, but she took no notice. This could be a matter of life and death, in fact she had no doubt that it was.  
  
Raven looked up as she heard the shuffling of feet come towards her. She gave a sad glance at Hawk who gave her a sad look in return.  
  
"I'm sorry…" She whispered, more tears rolling down her cheeks. She shook her head in agony at her stupidity. "Get him to the hospital now."  
  
Matrix and Mya disappeared around the corner of the building, not wanting to go inside or they would scare the people who had already stopped dancing when they heard Raven's gun go off. Kyra stared after them until they were no longer in sight, then turned back to Raven.  
  
"Go with them." Raven said.  
  
"No way! I'm staying with you." Kyra objected, shaking her head.  
  
"Go…" Raven said, averting her gaze back to the ground. Kyra didn't want to leave her, but she did. She left her best friend at the mercy of Brady Black in the middle of a dark alley. Her footsteps echoed and faded away until all was silent.  
  
Raven raised her eyes and met the troubled blue of Brady's. He towered over her, stepping backwards and leaning up against a wall as he held his shoulder. Raven sighed deeply, placing her hand on the hard ground as she shifted her legs, standing up. She would not look up. She couldn't. She had tried to kill this man, and now he stood wounded in front of her, having narrowly escaped further damage. This was not how things were supposed to have gone, and this was not how things were supposed to have ended. How could she say she was sorry? She supposed he deserved a little more than that.  
  
She took a step towards him, finally raising and keeping her eyes level with Brady's. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, unsure of what to say, or what to do. Why did she feel this burning connection to him? It was so hard to explain it. Should she help him? He was bleeding, wounded, and susceptible to an infection.  
  
No, she would not help him. With the small ounce of pride she had left, she fought off the urge to play Florence Nightingale to someone who had been the cause of her shooting one of her closest friends. Raven stood inches from Brady, and she narrowed her eyes slightly. What would she do now? Should she do what she always did when thing went wrong…run?  
  
The next thing she did was on pure instinct. In a rush of courage or whatever it was that suddenly spilled from her heart, she kissed Brady full on the mouth. It was so sudden that he didn't have time to react, and by the time he finally realized what had happened, Raven had already pulled away and escaped into the shadows. 


	11. Chapter 10

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Raven ran through the back alleyways of New York. Brady wasn't following her, and of course how could he? The man was bleeding and severely wounded. She heard no footsteps; she believed it to be safe and slowed her pace, turning up an alley onto the main street. She stood by the road and called for a cab, hitching a ride to the hospital.  
  
Of course, as luck would have it, her cab driver was the one whom she had seen earlier that night. He didn't recognize her at first, the street too dark for him to see the silver material of her dress, but as soon as she got into the cab he gasped and started screaming insults in some sort mottled Turkish as he waved his hundred-dollar bill in the air. Raven rolled her eyes.  
  
"Shutup and drive!" She yelled, pulling a knife from underneath the sole of her shoe. "I'm not in the mood for this." She held the knife pointed towards the driver, ready to strike if need be. The man was immediately silenced and drove her to the hospital.  
  
When they arrived, Raven slowly stepped out of the car as the cab driver glared at her from his seat, holding out his hand for money. Raven shook her head, which caused the driver to move over into the passenger seat and stick his hand out the window.  
  
"Sitgir sen!" Chloe growled before spitting into the palm of the driver's hand. The driver was appalled, but drove off straight away, throwing his counterfeit hundred-dollar bill out the window.  
  
Raven turned around and headed glumly into the hospital. The halls smelt lemony fresh, an old man wandering the white halls with a mop and bucket greeted her on her way in. Raven gave him a small smile, keeping in character of her fake identity. The old man didn't seem to notice the clothes she was wearing; instead he went for the kind of person she was. That really pulled at Raven's heartstrings, and really until that day she didn't believe she even had a heart. Everything was rearranging inside of her, and it was the scariest feeling she could ever have. How could she go from completely heartless to heartfelt in less than twelve hours? This was all Brady's fault. If she hadn't agreed to go after him for the bounty, they wouldn't be in this horrible situation. Brady was right, she had been a bad girl. Raven had been a bad girl forever and now, for a strange reason, part of her didn't want to be anymore. How could everything change so drastically, so quickly? Raven slowed down as she entered the emergency ward. She spotted Kyra and Matrix standing anxiously by the entrance to a hallway that most definitely led to an emergency operating room. Mya stood off a little, leaning up against the receptionist's desk. She looked up when she heard Raven approaching and gave her a saddened look.  
  
"Where is he?" Raven asked, dreading the answers she would receive.  
  
"He's in the emergency room. They're removing the bullet—You hit him pretty hard Raven. I guess you regret having good aim now huh?" Mya said softly.  
  
"I have no regrets." Raven said simply. "If I hadn't done what I did, Hawk would have killed him."  
  
"So? Isn't that what we came here to do in the first place?" Mya exclaimed, a confused look passing over her eyes. "I don't understand what's going on! You may have had the hots for Brady, but you would sacrifice Hawk's life for him?"  
  
"Hawk hasn't been sacrificed, he's still alive." Raven countered.  
  
"Then what was that little escapade? Was that you having fun?"  
  
Raven shook her head solemnly. "You really know how to run your mouth don't you?" Raven hissed, glowering at Mya. She shook her head and turned, leaving Mya's questions as they should be: unanswered.  
  
Raven walked over to Matrix and Kyra who had been watching her and Mya talking by the desk. Kyra looked up at Raven as she leaned up against Matrix. Kyra wasn't smiling and she wasn't frowning. She just looked at Raven the way that Brady might have looked at her; as if she were a puzzle that they just couldn't put together.  
  
"Can I talk to you for a minute Kyra?" Raven asked.  
  
Kyra looked up at Matrix who shrugged at her. She looked at Raven and nodded her head, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. Raven dragged her off into the waiting room that was practically empty except for an elderly couple waiting in the corner. Raven sat down on a plush couch by the window and motioned for Kyra to sit down beside her.  
  
"What is it?" Kyra asked, giving Raven her full attention as she sat sideways on the couch, her legs folded neatly beneath her.  
  
Raven took a deep breath and chewed her lip thoughtfully.  
  
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" She asked, her voice taking a serious tone.  
  
"What…" Kyra blurted, even more confused now.  
  
"Do you?" Raven persisted.  
  
Kyra pondered the thought a moment, giving Raven a strange look. "I guess so…"  
  
"You guess so? Is that yes?"  
  
Kyra shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Is that how it was with you and Matrix?" Raven asked, though she was really beginning to see that she could not hold a serious conversation on this topic for very long.  
  
"No. I think we grew in to it…"  
  
"Oh." Raven said, somewhat discouraged. "Then I guess there is no such thing. I thought for sure if anyone, it would be you guys…" Raven grew silent and turned her head, looking out the window. The dark sky was silhouetted with even darker building, rows of bright lights dotting the dark, towering shapes.  
  
"I can't believe we're having this conversation." Kyra said truthfully.  
  
"Neither can I."  
  
Raven stood up and they walked back into the emergency room where Mya and Matrix were watching the clock.  
  
As soon as Raven stepped foot into the ward, a small woman in a white coat stepped out of the operating room. She pulled off two rubber gloves and tossed them into a small bin as she walked down the forbidden hallway, taking the mask off her nose and mouth and letting it hang limply around her neck.  
  
Mya jumped up and ran towards the woman.  
  
"When can we see him?" She asked anxiously.  
  
The woman looked around, waiting until all four friends were gathered around her.  
  
"I'm afraid never." She said, her voice low and even. "He didn't make it." 


	12. Chapter 11

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Raven's jaw dropped when she heard the words.  
  
"What! You're joking. I hit him in the shoulder not in the head! Let me see him!" Raven attempted to push past the petite doctor but she held her back with a strong arm.  
  
"I'm sorry. There was too much blood lost. We'll have to hold his body for the time being. Again, I'm sorry. This is out of our hands."  
  
Raven glared at the little doctor then backed up into Matrix who was gaping at the door far at the other end of the corridor. Then she started to laugh. It was a horrible, airy laugh. She laughed until she started to lose her balance and had to stretch her arm out and use the wall for balance. Then her laughter eventually turned to cries of anguish as tears started to fall from her eyes once again. She took her hand off the wall and leaned up against it, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression in her eyes as her tears dripped off the side of her face.  
  
Kyra bit her lip and approached Raven, placing her hand on her shoulder. At her touch Raven immediately blew up, shaking her friend's hand off of her.  
  
"Just leave me alone damnit!" She screamed, before taking off down the hallway. She threw open the door to the staircase and took them two at a time. As she came to the second last flight of stairs the heel to one of her shoes broke off. She stopped and looked down at her shoe then pulled both of them off, flinging them at the wall before she continued speedily down the rest of the stairs. As she exited the stairwell, the old man she had seen when coming in to the building seemed to be so concerned that he held out a tissue for Raven as she ran by. Raven stopped abruptly and looked at the man, then she ran her finger over the inside hem of her dress, finding her secret money stash. She pulled out the wad of hundred dollar bills and took the man's hand, placing the entire stash of money in his hand. Then she took the tissue he was still holding out as he looked at her with a shocked expression on his face before she ran out the door into the dark night.  
  
Kyra cried silently with Mya and Matrix on the fifth floor of the hospital as the doctor shook her head sadly and returned to the operating room down the hall where's Hawk's corpse lay peacefully.  
  
"What about Raven? I can't leave her alone like this; she's going to do something stupid! You know how she is!" Kyra said between sobs.  
  
"You have to give her her space this time Kyra. She just killed someone extremely close to her. Even though they didn't look it, they were in love. Do you know how hard this must be for her right now?" Matrix said reasonably, wiping a running tear off Kyra's cheek.  
  
"Then why did she shoot him? What didn't she shoot that damn Secret Service Agent? I don't understand! It's like she knows the man…"  
  
"Who knows, maybe they know each other from a past life."  
  
"Don't go weird on me too, Matrix, Raven was just asking me if I believed in love at first sight. I don't need any more fantasy dream land tonight alright?"  
  
Matrix nodded his head silently and pulled Kyra close to him, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Mya gazed out the window, looking for signs of Raven. Raven wasn't exactly nice to her, but she couldn't live with herself if she knew her boss was going to do something completely stupid that she could have prevented. She focused in on the entrance to the hospital; she was sure Raven would come running out of it at any moment.  
  
Raven didn't use the front entrance. She pushed open a side door and ran out onto the lawn that surrounded the hospital, her bare feet becoming very cold as well as the rest of her body as she ran from the hospital. She turned off the property onto a quiet street that was lit by some old fashioned lamps. Ultimately, it led to a small lake. That's where Raven ended up, slowing her pace when she caught sight of the silvery surface of the lake illuminated by the moonlight.  
  
"Our lives are over…" Kyra sighed, pressing her face into Matrix's chest. "Brady knows we're all some sort of terrorist group. We're goners…"  
  
She looked up when she heard a slow moving pair of feet enter the ward. She looked up and there he was, the very bane of all their troubles: Brady Black. He walked into the ward, his forehead pinched in pain as he held a blood soaked cloth around his wounded arm and shoulder. Mya spotted him immediately and walked up to him, stopping his path to the emergency room where he would need immediate attention. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him, then slid her hand slowly to the side of her boot where she pulled out her own knife.  
  
"He's dead. He's dead thanks to you! What did you do to her huh? You must have hypnotized her. Now she's gone and killed her lover. Is this how you wanted things to end for her? You know I can't figure you out. I can't figure her out either. I can't figure either of you out!" She held the dagger in her hand and shook her head. "If I let you go, you'd probably tell everyone you'd found the 'black widow spider' and her gang of followers right? I'm sorry, I can't let you do that. There's much too much at stake here, and you know you are so lucky that you are in the emergency ward because there IS no receptionist and there are no doctors out here! I could just kill you right now. That would put an end to all of this."  
  
Brady's mouth hung half-open by now.  
  
"So she is the black widow spider? That's what I thought. Anyway, could you kindly get out of the way so I can get some treatment? We can continue this lovely discussion over tea and crumpets when I'm cleaned up." He kicked the knife out of Mya's hand and walked down the corridor to the emergency treatment room.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Kyra blurted, picked up Mya's knife and running after Brady. She was able to get by him and block his way as his arm was too much for him to handle while running at the same time.  
  
"Listen buddy. I don't care who the hell you are or what the hell you can do or what the hell you have done to Raven. You keep you damn mouth shut about all of this or else."  
  
"Or else what?" Brady said, standing up straighter to show how much bigger he was than Kyra.  
  
"You don't want to know. I have connections. I don't care if you work for the Secret Service. You have nothing on us except that someone attacked you. You know what? That someone is dead now and you can't do anything to us. Leave us alone, we'll leave you prey to someone else who wants your head. You've caused enough trouble for us already." She took the knife and stuck it into the wall of the hallway before she and Matrix left the ward, closely followed by Mya.  
  
Brady watched them leave, then turned and hobbled painfully to the emergency room.  
  
Raven sat at the water's edge, looking out onto its clear depths. The small waves lapped up onto the small sand strip that surrounded the basin, touching Raven's toes as she sat, her knees hugged tightly to her chest, with her arms around her legs. She rocked back and forth steadily and closed her eyes, crying her troubles solitarily to the moon. 


	13. Chapter 12

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 12  
  
"Where has that girl gotten to now?" Kyra asked worriedly after they had been out searching for Raven.  
  
"She could be back at the hotel." Mya suggested.  
  
"I doubt it. She wouldn't go there yet…She's probably somewhere secluded. I doubt she would want company right now…" Matrix said.  
  
"I guess you're right. I'm still in shock." Kyra admitted, standing on her tip-toes to see over a row of bushes in hope that Raven might be there.  
  
"She could be anywhere Kyra." Mya said, catching her glance over the bushes. "We should just go back to the hotel. She would go back there eventually wouldn't she?"  
  
Kyra nodded her head, admitting defeat, and followed her associates, which were now minus one, back to the hotel.  
  
Raven was curled up in a ball at the edge of the lake, her eyes shining brightly. The material of her dress reflected the bright moonlight and shimmered. It was quiet; the sounds of moving cars lost behind the thick wood that surrounded her. In all honesty she didn't even know where she was, but she didn't care. It was the best place possible for her to be at that time, and that's where she chose to stay. It wasn't exactly paradise or anything, just a small lake that seemed more like a pond.  
  
Raven shivered slightly, pulling the material of her dress over her goose- pimpled skin. That didn't do much considering her dress wasn't all that much to begin with. Her back was bare and so were her arms and legs. It could get pretty cold at night, even if you were in the midst of summer.  
  
Raven was scared half to death when she felt something fleecy hit her back. She turned around, her heart beating wildly, to come face to face with a sweater. She stared at it; unsure if she should pick it up and put it on when she so desperately needed it, or leave it laying on the ground as if it possessed a secret identity. In the end her sensibility got the better of her and she picked up the sweater. There was no sign of an apparent owner, nor any indication of where it could have come from. She pulled the sweated closer to her and pulled it on, happy that it was oversized and baggy as it stretched almost to her knees.  
  
"I thought you might want that…" A dark form sat down beside Raven at the water's edge. Raven turned her head to face the man; at least she thought she was facing him. It was hard to see his face though she knew his voice immediately. She slid backwards, away from the man who had given her the sweater.  
  
"Why the hell are you here…" She hissed, reaching for means of weaponry before realizing that she had rid herself of all her weapons.  
  
The man tilted his head to the side and gave a slight huff. "You needed the sweater didn't you?"  
  
"Don't get too close or I'll strangle you. You're just getting off easy tonight. I'm in no mood for killing. Oh yeah, don't try to befriend me either because you'll be betrayed at the end, not to mention, uh, dead!" Raven said sassily, hugging her knees to her chest again and looking out at the water. She rested her chin on her knees, her dark curls falling down the sides of her face, having been reduced to no more than rippling waves.  
  
Brady shrugged his shoulders and kept his distance as he joined Raven in looking out at the water. After a few moments of silence, he spoke up again.  
  
"You know you remind me of someone?"  
  
"Really, who? Morticia?" Raven asked sarcastically.  
  
"No…"  
  
"Ok, well maybe one of her cousins? Catastrophia…or maybe Melancholia?"  
  
"Um…not exactly…" Brady said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Alright. How about some pretty happy-go-lucky girl like Christine from Phantom of the Opera?"  
  
"Actually…no. And she wasn't like that…unless you are being sarcastic of course. But does this mean you like opera?" Brad asked.  
  
"This doesn't mean anything." Raven replied.  
  
"Oh." He replied, somewhat disappointed. "Anyway, as I was saying before…" Brady continued, shifting his position, "You remind me of someone."  
  
"Yeah, you got that far the first time through."  
  
Brady shrugged his shoulders. "Alright! Obviously I'm boring you."  
  
Raven glanced over at Brady, her cheek pressed up against her knee. "No, you're not actually. If it pleases you to think that I have nothing better to do than to listen to you well tell your story already. It's always polite to give people some last words…"  
  
Brady figured that was as best a response he was going to get from Raven. He tugged slightly at the bandage around his arm and risked moving a little closer to Raven. She raised her head immediately, as if she were a cobra ready to strike at its prey. Then she just lowered her head and stared out onto the moonlit lake again.  
  
"You remind me…," Brady said, taking his time as he spoke, "Of a girl I knew. A long time ago…"  
  
"Oh. I suppose you want to tell me about her now?" Raven said, pulling Brady's sweater over her legs.  
  
"You do realize that's my sweater?" Brady said, eyeing the Black sweater that Raven was drowning in.  
  
"What of it? Just cause I'm wearing it I have to be nice to you?" Raven said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I'd appreciate that…" Brady answered, eyeing her strangely. Though not in the curious manner that he usually did.  
  
Raven sighed. "Fine. But just for tonight. Just remember that I'm out here to kill you."  
  
"Yeah…it's kind of hard to forget that pleasant fact." Brady said, his piercing gaze focused in on Raven who was still refusing to look at him.  
  
"Yeah…it is. In fact I don't even know why I am talking to you. I have just gone through the worst experience of my entire life and now I'm talking to you! What the hell is wrong with me…"  
  
"Are you sure it's the worst experience? You haven't had anything else happen to you in your life that you found traumatic?"  
  
"Not unless you count having someone crack an egg in your hair as some stupid beauty treatment traumatic then yes."  
  
"Oh." Brady sounded disappointed again. This confused Raven slightly, for she didn't exactly understand why Brady should be so disappointed in her. In fact, she expected herself to be ripping his hair out at a time like this. He was probably thinking the same about her.  
  
"Well, go on with your story will ya? I don't have all night." Raven edged him on with her bright eyes then broke his gaze.  
  
"Alright…"  
  
(I'm going to tell this story in the form of a flashback! Bear with me here…)  
  
Eighteen year old Brady Black sat at the desk in his bedroom and looked out the window, the bright sunshine seeping through the spotless glass. To anyone else it would have been a beautiful day, but to him it was dark and gloomy.  
  
His ears perked up when he heard his mother calling his name. He turned around and tread down the stairs to the front door where his mother was standing with the door half-open, one leg inside and one outside on the front porch. Brady turned his around the edge of the door and spotted the familiar spill of long, dark hair sitting on the top of his best friend's head. He had been best friends with the tall brunette before him ever since she had moved into the house next door with her new adoptive family. That had been ten years earlier. Now she stood there on his porch, fifteen years old, not at all like the small girl he used to play in the sandbox with.  
  
"Hi…" Brady said, attempting to put a smile on his face.  
  
His friend didn't even try to smile. She just looked up at him with a sad expression on her face. The attempted smile disappeared from Brady's face.  
  
"Is it alright if I borrow Brady for a while Mrs. Black?" The brunette asked politely.  
  
"Of course it is honey." Isabella Black replied, nodding her head. Then she gently closed the door, allowing them to have a chance to talk alone. The brunette took Brady's hand and led him into the backyard of her house next door. She had a very large backyard dotted with trees and flowers. She stopped walking when she came to a small corner of the yard. (If you guys have seen the movie 'the secret garden', try to picture the yard like that) Tied neatly to a thick arm of tall maple tree was a small wooden swing, slightly worn from age but still useable. A few feet away were the remains of a small sandbox.  
  
"Do you remember when we used to play here…" The girl asked, running her fingers over the tightly-knit rope that held the swing up before turning her head to face Brady. Brady nodded his head slowly, remembering the many times that he had been found in this yard either digging around in the sandbox, playing hide-and-go-seek or pushing his friend on the swing. The brunette nodded her head slowly and looked down at her feet, letting go of Brady's hand. She sat down on the swing.  
  
"Will you push me?" She asked, looking up at Brady. Brady nodded his head and pushed her, just as he had pushed her so many times before. But this time it felt as if it were his last time, in fact her was pretty sure it was definitely his last time in that yard pushing his best friend on a swing.  
  
"Why do you have to leave? Don't they care what you want?" Brady asked.  
  
"This has nothing to do with what I want Brady…" The girl paused. "It's about what's right. If my mother wants me back in her family, who am I to object? I am her daughter aren't I?"  
  
"No! You're mother is in there…" Brady objected, pointing to the Victorian- style house sitting primly at the other end of the yard.  
  
"My adoptive mother."  
  
"It doesn't matter! She's your mother…wouldn't you rather just stay here?"  
  
"Of course I would rather stay here. I don't want to leave you…" The brunette said, leaning the side of her head on one of the ropes that held her swing up.  
  
"Stay, please? For me…"  
  
"Brady, I can't! It's not up to me. If my mother wants me back she gets me. It isn't my choice! I'm still a minor remember?"  
  
Brady sighed and continued to push her gently.  
  
"You're not making this any easier on me…" The girl said.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
The girl fell silent. She swayed with the swing as Brady seemed to have stopped talking too. A loud honking noise was heard in the front of the house.  
  
"Honey! It's time…" Her adoptive mother called from the back porch.  
  
"Just a minute mom!" The girl called back. She stood up and led Brady to the small gate in the fence that separated their backyards.  
  
"Don't watch me go…it's too much to bear."  
  
Brady nodded and started to open the gate.  
  
"Oh yeah…one more thing." The girl said. She kissed Brady on the cheek. "I love you."  
  
Then she turned and ran into her house through the back porch.  
  
(Ok, the end)  
  
"That was the last I saw of her. When you kissed me tonight, you reminded me of her…and you look a lot like her too, except that you're older."  
  
"Oh god, don't remind me of that…" Raven said, rubbing her forehead.  
  
"Why not? How come you did that?" Brady asked.  
  
"It doesn't matter. I don't know what came over me." Raven said, looking up at the moon.  
  
"Oh." Was all Brady could say in response. 


	14. Chapter 13

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Kyra was relieved to find Raven sleeping peacefully at the other end of her hotel room the next morning. She rose slowly out of her bed and stood up, stretching. She yawned and walked slowly over to Raven's bed where she lay, her body moving up and down as she breathed. She lay on top of her covers; still wearing her dress and what appeared to be a black sweater though Kyra didn't know whom it belonged to. She guessed that Raven had bought it the night before. Her feet were bare and slightly scratched, as well as her legs. Kyra took a blanket from the shelf beside the bed and covered Raven with it, turning to head for the kitchen where she would sit glumly to breakfast. In fact she was almost into the kitchen when she suddenly got wind of a heavy scent floating around in the air. It smelt like cologne…but none that the boys would wear. Actually it was only one boy now. Kyra turned back to Raven's bed which seemed to be the source of the scent. She sniffed around a little, finding eventually that the smell was coming from the neck of Raven's sweater. Since her friend was sleeping on her side, Kyra had full access to the tag that was at the nape of the sweater's neck hole. She moved closer to Raven and brushed her long waves back, folding up the shirt collar. Then she shook her head in disappointment at the blue ink scrawled on top of the white tag.  
  
'Property of Brady Black'. Kyra stepped back from the bed and looked at her friend in shock. She had been with Brady? And taken his sweater? Or perhaps he had given it to her…It was hard to tell. She decided to press her for information when she woke up. Kyra always felt like she needed to play mother in times when Raven was not able to fulfill her duties as head of their league. This didn't happen too often, and it had never been too big a problem. This time is was definitely something hard to deal with, and Kyra felt as if she would have an extended stay as mother for the time being.  
  
She lingered steadily into the kitchen where Mya and Matrix were already having a bowl of cereal. Matrix had slept in the girl's room that night, as it wasn't exactly his preference to be in a hotel room all by himself. Kyra sat down across from Mya and poured herself a bowl of cereal. Everyone looked groggy that morning as they munched slowly on their Count Chocula. Things would be tougher now. Matrix was the only man with them in New York, and Kyra didn't know if Raven would ever be the same again; or any of them for that matter. What would they do if they could no longer raise the crime rates in their LA base? They could not stay with Stephano if they were against his beliefs, even if his daughter was with them.  
  
They heard a slight moan from the other room followed by a very large thump. Kyra pushed her chair back from the table and peered in through the door to her shared bedroom. Raven was on the floor, rubbing her forehead. Kyra shook her head and laughed lightly, moving her chair back towards the table.  
  
A few minutes later they were joined by Raven who had decided to change out of her dress and into a pair of her baggy pajama pants, though she kept the large black sweater on. She sat down in a chair and rested her forehead on the edge of the table and closed her eyes.  
  
"Raven hun, do you want some cereal?" Kyra asked in a small voice.  
  
"No…" Raven replied, giving her chestnut waves a small shake.  
  
"Do you want something else to eat? Maybe toast?"  
  
Raven didn't even reply that time. She fell asleep at the table.  
  
"Don't bother. She's asleep again…" Mya said, watching the steady rise and fall of Raven's now noiseless self.  
  
Matrix rose from his chair and picked Raven up, carrying her over to the couch where he had slept the night before. He set her down gently on the ruffled bedcover he had pulled over from his own room.  
  
"I guess she needs her sleep." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "Who knows what she was doing out there last night or how late she was out. Or even where in the world she got that sweater…"  
  
"It's Brady's." Kyra said, rolling her eyes. "Obviously he caught up with her last night."  
  
"What? How! He was in the hospital longer than we were yet he was able to find her?" Mya asked in complete disbelief.  
  
"I'm telling you, it's like they know each other and how they think…it's scary." Kyra remarked, swirling her spoon around in her cereal bowl.  
  
"Who knows? I still think they knew each other from a past life…" Matrix said, pouring more Count Chocula into his bowl.  
  
"Oh please." Mya said, making a face. "I highly doubt that. Maybe they're so similar that they can predict what the other is thinking. It doesn't mean they knew each other. But then again…I think that all of this mishap happened in the last twenty-four hours, and what do you know? That's when we saw Mr. Brady Black for the first time. There is something totally fishy about this…do you think Raven is a spy for the Secret Service and has been working undercover with us for the past three years?"  
  
"Are you insane!" Kyra spat. "I highly doubt that she would have been licensed to kill tons of people to look convincing. Sounds like a James Bond movie…"  
  
"Geez, it was just a thought. It's only about as far fetched as them knowing each other."  
  
"How is that far-fetched? If you hadn't noticed, none of us has the vaguest recollection of what our lives were like before we started training to become mercenaries. It is highly probable that we all had a LIFE before this." Matrix suggested.  
  
"What are the chances of her having known Brady though? I don't understand the logic in all of this. That's what…a one in six billion chance?" Mya countered.  
  
"So? It's still possible. I mean, look at them together won't you? They look like they've known each other forever…and then there's that look that passes over Raven and she looks completely changed. It's as if she's remembering something!" Kyra exclaimed, raising her eyebrows.  
  
Mya shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her chair. "Whatever you say Kyra. I guess we won't know unless she actually remembers something."  
  
"I do remember something…"  
  
All three acquaintances whipped their heads around and looked, startled, at Raven's form sitting up in the couch staring right back at them.  
  
"What…" Kyra said slowly.  
  
"What what?" Raven said, giving her an odd look.  
  
"You remember something?"  
  
"Did I say that?"  
  
"Yes, just now."  
  
"Oh…" Raven said, though she looked somewhat aloof. "I don't know what came over me…sorry about that."  
  
Then she lay back down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, putting her hands behind her head and looking as though she were about to be sucked into the sweater she was wearing. 


	15. Chapter 14

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Raven and Kyra were window-shopping later that day. Raven dragged Kyra to the most expensive stores, waving a fist-full of money in the air.  
  
"Ok hun, you are going to buy something and it is going to be a very expensive something." Raven said, looking through a store window at the evening gowns.  
  
"What? I thought you hated shopping!"  
  
"So? You like it. I'm making a sacrifice! Now let's shop." Raven said, trying to keep herself in a good mood. Kyra was surprised that none of them was that affected by Hawk's sudden death anymore. But then perhaps it was because they had never seen the body, never saw Hawk actually die. The hospital staff decided it was best for them to put it into a coffin themselves and hold the cremation as soon as possible. They weren't ever allowed to open the coffin, as the doctors said it was too gruesome a sight. So instead, they would think happy thoughts and keep this tragedy as far from their minds as humanly possible.  
  
The two women stepped into a small, secluded boutique just off the main street. It was beautifully done on the inside, the clothing displayed on manikins and surrounded by Victorian décor. A small woman from behind the main counter came up to them hurriedly, clad in a designed outfit. She glanced distastefully at the sweater Raven was wearing.  
  
"Oh, dear…I hope you realize that we don't sell anything like that here." She said, wrinkling her nose.  
  
"No kidding, that's why I came here. Now stop being a smart ass and serve your customers like a good little sales clerk." Raven hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. In height she stood a good six inches about the sales clerk. The little woman gulped loudly and pasted a forced smile on her face.  
  
Kyra shook her head and smiled to herself. Raven definitely hadn't lost her natural ability to scare people. Yet the reason Raven continued to wear that sweater was completely unknown even to her. She asked Raven about it as they browsed the racks of dresses.  
  
"Why? I don't know. I've become abnormally attached to it." Raven responded simply.  
  
**Don't delay! Call now! Madame Cleo always has the answers!**  
  
Kyra burst out laughing as the commercial for the famous psychic came on over the radio the clerk had sitting on the counter.  
  
Raven stopped what she was doing, but didn't laugh. She furrowed her brow in deep thought then started mumbling something to herself.  
  
"Cleo, Calo, Chaye, Claeo…Chelo, Chlaye…"  
  
Kyra stopped laughing and looked curiously at Raven. She looked as if she were in some kind of trance.  
  
"Chlola, Cayla, Chelly, Chloy…"  
  
"What the heck are you mumbling about?" Kyra said, not liking the strange look that clouded Raven's usually bright blue eyes.  
  
"Chloy…Chloy…" Raven bit her lip and put her hand to her forehead.  
  
The sales clerk bounded up to them as if she thought they were plotting to shoplift.  
  
"Excuse me ladies, what is going on?" She took one look at Raven then stood back, her eyes widening. "What the hell is going on…is she having a seizure? What is this! An ancient evil ritual? Get her out of my store! This'll give me a bad name!"  
  
"Chloy…Chloye…Chlo…Chloe! That's it!" Raven snapped out of her trance and started to jump up and down. "That's who—"  
  
She wasn't able to finish her sentence. She suddenly collapsed, her eyes closing as she hit the floor with a very loud thump.  
  
"Oh my god! Raven!" Kyra screamed, kneeling own beside her friend.  
  
"Oh lord! There goes my business…"  
  
Raven's eyesight went from seeing black to seeing a white mist then finally to a clear picture as she lay unconscious in the middle of the boutique.  
  
~*~*DrEaM LaNd (FlaSh BaCk)*~*~  
  
"Brady! There you are…" Chloe said, plunking herself down beside her best friend on the swinging seat on the porch of the house next door to her. Brady smiled down at her and leaned back against the cushioned seat, pulling his black sweater off of him.  
  
"It's a warm one tonight isn't it?" He said, looking up into the night sky.  
  
"Are you insane? I should have grabbed a jacket!" Chloe said, rubbing her arms.  
  
Brady gave her a strange look as he sat at a comfortable temperature in his t-shirt. He handed Chloe his sweater and told her to wear it. Chloe looked down at the fleecy sweater and pulled it on over her thick mass of curls. She had worn the sweater so many times before. It was almost as if it were hers.  
  
"There, better?" Brady asked, giving her a small smile.  
  
"Uh huh!" Chloe said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "It's good to have a best friend who's willing to give up his sweater for me."  
  
Brady laughed lightly. "It sure is!"  
  
~*~*EnD oF dReAm LaNd*~*~  
  
"Raven? Raven!" Kyra tapped restlessly on her friend's cheek.  
  
Raven opened her eyes slowly and looked up at the two relieved faces looking down at her. All memory of her dream was lost as she stood up and wiped the dust off her black, fleecy sweater. 


	16. Chapter 15

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 15  
  
Raven looked over at the sales clerk who kept stealing nervous glances at her from behind the front counter of the boutique. Apparently she feared for her business now, but then again that served her good, Raven thought. She carried a few evening gowns and entered the change room next to Kyra's.  
  
"How's it going in there?" Raven called through the wall, pulling her first selection off its hanger.  
  
"Umm…first two were a no-no. I don't think that the navy looks too good on me. I don't have the right skin tones…" Kyra paused. "But you do!"  
  
"I'm partial to my silver and black…" Raven said, then shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I could try on some colors just for the heck of it…"  
  
"Of course you could. Besides, we're still undercover aren't we? You need to fit the characteristics of Raven Ravine." Kyra remarked.  
  
"That's a stupid name. Who thought that up?" Raven said, digging into her pant pocket and pulling out the fake I.D. she had had created for her.  
  
"I don't know. I thought it was you."  
  
"Yeah right." Raven said, rolling her eyes. She pulled on a silver dress and stepped out of the change room. "Are you done?"  
  
"Hang on…" Kyra said, a couple banging noises heard inside her changing room. Then she opened the door and stepped out. "What do you think about this one?" She asked, standing in front of the full-length mirror beside Raven. She wore a fluent, rose-colored gown with a slight shimmering quality that fell to her ankles. There were two thin straps on each shoulder and the cut was low in the front and back. Raven examined the dress Kyra was wearing and nodded her head in approval.  
  
"That color is definitely flattering on you. I think you've got yourself a new dress!"  
  
Kyra blushed slightly and twirled around in a circle. She had never owned a dress so elegant as the one she wore at that moment. Raven on the other hand had gone with her usual style. Short and skimpy in her favorite colors: silver and black.  
  
"Try on a color. And something that's longer…" Kyra said, pointing to the short dress Raven was wearing.  
  
"Do I have to? I like these dresses."  
  
"Yes! Do you want me to get a third party involved in this?" Kyra asked, pointing to the sales clerk who was tapping her acrylic nails unceasingly against the tabletop.  
  
Raven gave Kyra a weird look and refused to have the woman involved in anything unless it involved her father's credit cards. She kept her little dress on as she searched through the racks of clothing around the store. There were many pinks, yellows, browns and even oranges and bright greens.  
  
"How nauseating!" Raven spat as she picked up a hot pink nylon gown. "I thought this was a boutique, not a sixties-style thrift store!"  
  
"Um…I think this is the costume section." Kyra said, pointing to the sign above their heads.  
  
"Oh…" Raven said, looking up at the large green sign. She shrugged and went in search in another part of the store. After a while of searching, Kyra grew extremely bored.  
  
"Listen, I'll pick out the dress and you have to try it on. Deal?"  
  
Raven looked at the petite blonde and hummed and hawed for a few minutes. "Alright, alright. Deal." She walked back to the change rooms and disappeared behind their thick, wooden doors. It wasn't long before Kyra too was walking back towards the rooms, a dark red dress in her outstretched arms. She held it under the door of Raven's change room. Raven took the dress hesitantly, but slipped into it quickly.  
  
Kyra waited outside the room and looked over at the men's suites lining the far wall. Maybe she could drag Matrix into that store one day.  
  
She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Raven's door open. She turned her attention to her friend as she walked out into the light, clad in the red dress.  
  
Kyra gaped. "Are you wearing colors!" She asked in mock surprise.  
  
"Shutup." Raven said, looking down at the dress. She walked over to the mirror and held her semi-curly hair piled on top of her head with on hand as she stood side-ways and examined the back of the dress. It might as well have been a tube top that she was wearing; the dress was tight enough around the bust to stay up even without the two thin straps. The shimmering material clung to her skin to about her waist, then loosened up and flowed elegantly to the floor. The color brought out the natural rosy color in Raven's cheeks and ignited her eye color.  
  
Kyra smiled. "That is sooo the dress for you! You're so lucky to have a friend like me."  
  
"Oh yeah, real lucky." Raven said, trying to look sarcastic though she wasn't able to contain the smile that was forcing itself out.  
  
"Well! Do you like it?"  
  
Raven smoothed out the skirt of the dress. "Not bad for red."  
  
"Good! We're buying it and you're going to wear it too!" Kyra said, stomping back into her change room to take off her dress.  
  
"Wear it where?" Raven asked as she too traveled back into her change room and closed the door.  
  
"I don't know. Something will come up."  
  
Kyra changed quickly and was out well before Raven. She let her eyes wander around the other dresses around the room. Usually Mya would have been with them but the two girls ditched her. She was disturbed when she heard a jingling noise. Her eyes darted to the door where ironically Matrix and Mya were walking into the store.  
  
"Hey Kyra! Where have you guys been? You left us at the café!" Mya said, raising her arms in the air in exasperation. Matrix walked in behind the talkative twenty-year-old and gave Kyra a curious look.  
  
Kyra was about to reply when another jingling sound was heard at the door.  
  
(Be ready for the coincidence theory in the chapter ; o ) 


	17. Chapter 16

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Mya and Matrix followed Kyra's startled gaze to the glass door at the front of the store. A small man in a black tuxedo walked casually into the store, a tranquilizer gun held in his hand. Before anyone could react, the snobby sales clerk was down on the other side of the counter with a soft thud. He looked at the three faces looking at him in complete shock and took off the dark sunglasses that he was wearing, smiling stealthily.  
  
"Well, I guess you can't handle everything on your own anymore." He said, grinning.  
  
"Shutup Leroy!" Kyra spat, immediately recognizing the man from her year at the DiMera training base. "Answer me this…" She said, placing her hands on her hips. "Why…are…you…here!"  
  
The little man's grin grew even wider.  
  
"DiMera has spies everywhere…" He said simply.  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Mya asked.  
  
The man stepped back a little from the door. Just as he did this, Raven came walking out of the change room, completely oblivious to everything that was going on. Her head was bowed as she looked at the dress. A few loud footsteps startled her and she jumped, averting her eyes to the source of the racket. Her jaw dropped considerably and she dropped the dress she had planned on buying and gaped at the man who entered the store.  
  
"Daddy!" She said in disbelief, her eyebrows raised. She glanced quickly over at her friends who were all frozen in place.  
  
"What…" Stephano said, stepping up to his daughter and tilting her chin up to look at her in the face. "You're surprised to see me?"  
  
Raven's eyes were wide. With fear? Maybe. It appeared a mixture of fear, anger, and shock, everything humanly possible. She harbored extremely ill feelings towards her father, which did not add to her usually calm nature. Her ill feelings were something that had accumulated greatly in the past three years. The first year of her mercenary training had gone smoothly, almost too good to be true. It seemed as though she was some sort of super- woman. She laughed at the pathetic men who tried to beat her in close combat during training, and beamed at her father's endless praise and what she thought to be unrequited love for a daughter.  
  
It was not until she had been sent to her small fortress in the heart of Los Angeles did she come to know Stephano for who he really was. Now she would often tell herself that she was the exact same, killing and plotting and scheming, but really she wasn't. She had not created the biggest crime league that began the rule of the DiMera Dynasty, she did not capture and convert innocent people into soldiers that obeyed her and only her and she certainly did not, even though she had none, drag her children into the dark world of crime. Even Raven DiMera wouldn't want that.  
  
What's more is the fact that Stephano had in turn the audacity to not only tear his daughter away from the life she knew, though she remembered none of it, he was foolish enough to send her through training and place her as head of a group of freelance mercenaries. He never once believed he would exchange harsh words with his daughter, neither did he ever dream that maybe one day it would all backfire. The reasons for his carelessness were quite simple. One, he had the most advanced neurological instruments in the world and two, he had a one-hundred percent chance of things going the way he wanted them to. He didn't plan ahead in areas of his work where he thought it was unnecessary, though Raven often thought that that slight flaw would one day be his downfall; just like her prolonged locks might one day be hers.  
  
Stephano relied heavily on his daughter's mental power and persistence, and it became even more apparent in her first year in Los Angeles. Her very first mission was to bring down a small, hidden force targeting the DiMera family. She refused at first, a shadow of doubt still cast over her even after a year of hard training. That was when Stephano had brought out the big guns; literally. He placed a legion of agents under her lead to act as guards, carrying their rifles around Raven's fortress and not once regretting the moments they spent walking through Raven's office and going through her possessions. She were spies, all of them, for what became quickly perhaps her greatest enemy: her father. Raven was too strong-willed and independent a person to have her life run by Stephano so she toughened up immediately and refused the agents free access to all rooms of the fortress and kept them in line.  
  
Apparently one of DiMera's spies had not relished his boss's sudden change in humor and had contacted Stephano DiMera who flew out immediately to set his daughter straight once and for all. The yelling and screaming was heard all through the fortress as father and daughter got into a heated argument about what it meant to be in power. In the end, Raven was able to persuade her father to move all of his spies out of her fortress and replace them instead with agent fresh out of training and give her full, complete power over her legion. But the battle had not ended so quickly. Unknown to Raven, a spy was left in her fortress and ordered to keep an eye on her. Things got out of hand one day as Raven read him out for having blown their cover during an important mission. Obviously the spy had not been used to harsh treatment and had pulled the trigger of his gun right on the spot, landing a bullet in Raven's thigh. That had done it for Raven. The man's identity was later revealed as a spy for DiMera and whatever trust Raven had in her father diminished heavily. He had had her brought out to one of his health centers for treatment and had had his spy killed for his actions, but there would always be a barrier between them. If DiMera wasn't her father, she would not have been shot by one of his spies and she would not have been dragged into this world. If it weren't for DiMera she'd still be Chloe Lane, or perhaps have ceased to exist all together.  
  
Raven stepped back slowly and raised her eyebrow.  
  
"What are you doing here." She demanded. It wasn't even a question. In fact, even if it were, Raven was already quite certain of the answer. Her father had spies absolutely everywhere, New York of course being no exception. By the beaming little man standing beside the door she figured he was the one who had been the reason for Stephano being there in the first place.  
  
Stephano clicked his tongue and shook his head in mock sadness. "My daughter does not seem happy to see me." He suddenly wrapped his arms around the utterly shocked form of Raven and hugged her tightly. "But I shall not fret. You have not seen me for almost a year!" He let his daughter out of his death-grip and instead placed his arm lazily around her shoulders.  
  
"Come now, daughter. We have much to talk about."  
  
Raven shot one last pleading look behind her at the three remaining members of her undercover force, but they were all too scared, shocked and utterly stupified to do a single thing as Stephano led his daughter out of the small boutique and to an unknown fate. 


	18. Chapter 17

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 17  
  
SLAM!  
  
Raven slouched slightly in her chair as heavy footsteps made a sharp clomping sound on the wooden floors of an underground DiMera base beneath a run-down donut shop as they approached her from behind. The owner of the infernal footsteps sat down silently across from Raven, a Cuban cigar between his ringed fingers. He leaned back against his chair and sucked dramatically on his cigar, releasing a ring of heavy, gray smoke into the air. Raven waved the smoke out of her face and looked at the man with an equal ability to stare people down. The man smiled slightly and tapped his foot against the floor.  
  
"Well then daughter…" Stephano DiMera said in his calm nature, taking another puff of his cigar. Raven watched as his eyes narrowed while he sucked the toxic fumes out of the cigar as if it were a rich piece of chocolate. She grimaced quite noticeably and crossed her arms, keeping her face free of anything that might link her father to what it was she was thinking at that very moment.  
  
"What have you gotten yourself into this time?" Stephano continued, as if it were everyday that he was called out to help his daughter on a mission that she had so badly messed up. She shrugged her shoulders and let her eyes wander around the small office as his father tried to contain his anger at what he thought was complete idiocy in the world of crime. After successfully capping his anger, he chewed thoughtfully on the end of his cigar. It was apparent he was not about to get any reply from Raven so he was quick to answer the question for himself, hoping that it would set Raven off in a frenzy and she would eventually spill the whole story, giving him enough information to finish the job himself.  
  
"Did you know that all my mercenaries sign a code of conduct that states that you mustn't fall in love with the human that is being victimized? It really does no good for the level of stress you're having…" He said sarcastically. Mission accomplished. Stephano was right to believe that his daughter would be highly disturbed by the words that escaped his lips. She stiffened in her seat, two raging fires behind the calm blue of her eyes. She kept her eyes on her father and relaxed a little in her chair, crossing her legs.  
  
"Apparently those who spend their lives wallowing in the very pits of hell don't know the meaning of the word love nor that it even exists. Have you ever had love? Been loved?" Raven paused and let the words sink in before continuing. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She laid her arm on the armrest of her chair and drummed her fingers against the edge of it, knowing that her father would surely fight back. He was always ready for a battle of wits, especially when his ego was so large he thought that he could win the Mr. America pageant by a landslide. Though Raven was careful not to anger him too much, as there could be great consequences. DiMeras were known for wiping their children off the face of the planet if they so much as scratched their car. Raven was in no way willing to go up against her father.  
  
"Well, well, well…" Stephano said, grinning evilly. "It appears as though you feel the need to protect a certain someone with your words. I may not have love now, but I certainly know it when I see it. How could this be happening to my daughter? I thought you were strong, Raven. You were my strongest daughter yet. All of your hard work to waste on a silly man like Brady Black?"  
  
Raven was about to protest but was able to catch herself before she did. She needed to stay in control here, and protecting Brady Black for whatever crazy reasons were flashing through her mind were certainly not the way to go about it. She sighed and shook her head, buying time to think her words through carefully.  
  
"I have absolutely no interest in Brady Black except as an excuse to clean my knife."  
  
She waited patiently. It was in times like these where Stephano was so eager to take the bait, and for whatever reasons, he managed to do so again. He grinned genuinely and took a satisfied inhalation of more than four hundred chemicals into his body. (lolz, does this sound like an add against smoking?) He leaned in towards Raven and tweaked her cheek. Raven quickly slapped his hand away but Stephano continued to smile and chuckle to himself.  
  
"Well then daughter, it appears as though I have misjudged you." He said, smiling widely as a few ashes fell from his cigar. He took no notice of that as Raven wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You obviously have not lost your touch."  
  
"Was there ever any doubt?" Raven said, raising her eyebrows.  
  
The amused expression on Stephano's face returned once again to the one he so often housed: calm, composed, and obviously scheming in his faraway subconscious which he would eventually relay upon himself in the form of dastardly plots while he slept.  
  
"If there wasn't, I would not have had to fly out here so quickly now would I have? Fortunately for you and the well-being of my entire empire, I was warned of this before it was too late." He gave Raven an odd look and raised his eyebrow. "Unless of course I am too late…" He tried to pry the truth from Raven with what little authority he appeared to have over his daughter.  
  
"You are not too late. I don't know who told you what, but everything was going according to plan."  
  
Stephano's eyes bulged as his face turned a strange red color. He slammed his fist on the arm of the chair that wasn't able to hold his force as it cracked and fell to the ground. Stephano slapped his hands on his knees and spoke with his cigar clenched between his teeth.  
  
"Was killing Hawk part of you plan?" He hissed.  
  
Raven was speechless. She had completely forgotten that pleasant fact for almost a whole day but now there it was again, pulling at her guilty chains.  
  
"That was a minor bend in my plan…" She said slowly. She knew that Stephano had never really liked Hawk, for reasons that were probably way beyond her, and she was greatly distressed to see him so angry over his death. In fact, it was probably the fact that she had killed so many before him that was helping her cope with her guilty conscience, but it was a different story once Stephano was involved.  
  
Stephano huffed at her words and leaned back against his chair, taking the cigar out of his mouth.  
  
"Well, Hawk was never any good to either of us." He said finally, realizing that getting upset over it might push his daughter towards the holy world of goodness and honesty and furthermore, straight into Brady Black's arms. He sat in silence for a few minutes, relishing the site of his daughter beginning to wriggle in his grasp. He was sure that his daughter would not choose to answer him, but to his surprise, she did.  
  
"You're right." She said, inflicting a huge slap in Stephano's face. "He was never any good to me. I deserve better." She finished, tapping her foot and raising her eyebrows in a mocking manner towards her father. Stephano sat still for a minute, looking as if he were about to piece together the puzzle that Mya and Brady were never able to figure out.  
  
"I'm glad you agree." He said, averting his gaze to the door where one of his servants stood. "Since you're here, I want you to meet a new addition to my force…" Stephano stopped and looked over at the tall red-head. "Her name is…Nancy." He said, putting stress on the name. Everything turned slow motion for Raven. The name brought something up, though she couldn't match it up to a memory. She looked down at her hands, appearing to merely examine her nails, or so she hoped, as she bit her lip madly in an attempt to rid herself of the welling pressure in her head.  
  
It was just as Stephano had suspected. Something had triggered the beginning of a memory recovery for his daughter, and if he didn't stop it now Raven DiMera could cease to exist. It would be harder than ever to convert her back into the well-known mercenary if she was already able to fight it off the first time. He pursed his lips together.  
  
"Chloe." He said gently.  
  
Raven eyes rolled and she fell off her chair to the ground. Stephano stood up immediately and motioned for his male guard to enter the room. His guard lifted Raven off the ground.  
  
"Follow me. We must take her to the labs for temporary treatment. If things get better, then we will leave her to continue to serve in my leagues." He paused. "But if she does not, then I'm afraid that we shall have to rise to more drastic actions."  
  
He led his guard deep into the catacombs of the fortress. 


	19. Chapter 18

*~Conspiracy~* Chapter 18  
  
  
  
Raven's eyes fluttered open slowly. As her blurry vision seeped back into focus, she realized she was in a dark, dismal room. She couldn't do much more else than observe for the minute that her eyes were open before her eyelids began to feel heavy and she conked out again.  
  
The next time she awoke, she was no longer in that room, but in the richly furnished haven of her hotel room. She could hear three familiar voices chatting quietly in the room next to hers. She rose slowly out of the bed and rubbed her head. She could feel a slight bump just behind her ear. She wondered what it was as she slipped into her black cat suit and high boots. She rubbed her eyes and walked out to where her friends were sitting in the living room. They all turned their heads at the sound of Raven's heels clunking noisily on the ground. They stared, utterly confused by her choice of dress. She gave them all a menacing look.  
  
"Is there something wrong?" She asked in a voice so unlike her own. It seemed as if all her sarcasm and harshness was packed into one. She placed her hands on her hip and eyed them all, one by one. Even Kyra fell victim to the iciness in her gaze.  
  
"No..." Kyra ventured. "But if we are here undercover...are you sure you want to wear that? You're basically screaming that you're a suspicious person from out-of-town."  
  
Raven pulled her new dagger, though it was not apparent where she had received it, out of the side of her boot. She pressed the point into her fingers like she had so many times before, but waited this time until a clear flow of blood was running down her finger. She walked over to the wall and wrote her name in her own scarlet fluids.  
  
"Well then, we wouldn't want that now would we?"  
  
Kyra and Mya exchanged horrified glances as Matrix got up to talk some sense into her. Never had Raven acted so irrationally. Neither of the three knew what had happened in the evil sanctuary of Stephano's N.Y. base, but they definitely didn't have a good feeling about it. Raven kept her vibrant blue eyes on Matrix as he walked towards her. She held the dagger tightly in her hand.  
  
"Raven, sit down. There is now way we can accomplish our mission with you looking like that. You need to calm down a bit."  
  
"Calm down a bit?" Raven gave a low, throaty laugh. Her eyes started to grow shinier as she fought to blink back tears. Whatever Stephano had done to her had obviously converted her back to the natural Raven, before she had been altered by the memories Brady Black had triggered. "In case you hadn't noticed, I've killed the only man I've ever loved." She hissed, her dagger shaking in her hand.  
  
Kyra stood up to run to Matrix's aid.  
  
"Sit down!" Raven screamed, hatred and anger flashing in her eyes. "No more games."  
  
Kyra did as she was told, her eyes wide with tear as she too suddenly grew closer and closer to the brink of crying. What had happened to the Raven she knew? What was wrong with her? She was in some sort of mad frenzy, and Kyra feared greatly for Matrix in the position he stood in, merely inches from that sharp, shining dagger. Mya was about to crack under the heavy pressure hanging in the room.  
  
"Wait! Raven, no!" She yelled, running and standing beside Matrix. "I don't know what's happening, but why are you pointing a dagger at us? We're your allies, not your enemies. We're friends..." She said, pleading with her enraged friend. Raven's narrowed eyes, glowing with the suppressed fire that had either been just recently lit or released after years of simmering at a comfortable boiling point.  
  
Raven's eyes darted towards Mya and from her cleavage she pulled out yet another knife.  
  
"Bet you weren't counting on that huh?" She said crazily, pointing one each at Mya and Matrix. "Now Mya, you be a good little girl and sit down like you know you have to." Mya slowly backed up and sat down beside Kyra, her hands clasped nervously in her lap.  
  
Matrix moved back from Raven but that only seemed to set her off even more.  
  
"No, no...not you..." Raven said, walking over to him. She looked up into his terrified eyes and smiled. She walked around him, running her finger in a circle around his shoulders. She stopped when she was in front of him. Raven raised her arm and pulled him to her, pressing her lips onto his. To her surprise he responded to her. She flicked the dagger out of its place in her palm and pressed the tip into Matrix's gut. He drew back in pain and fell to the ground in pain, writhing on the floor.  
  
"I never trusted you." Raven said simply. "If you wanted to prove yourself you wouldn't have tried to choke me with your tongue when you're in the middle of a relationship with Kyra." She watched Matrix move helplessly on the floor. Then she raised her eyebrows and looked at Kyra who was hurting and angry all at the same time.  
  
Raven shrugged and pushed passed the terrified girls, stepping over Matrix's nearly-limp form.  
  
"I have a job to do. Come if you like." She waited patiently by the door but neither girl made a move towards her. They looked helplessly from Matrix to the bloody Raven sprawled on the wall to Raven herself, tucking the dagger away in her boot. "Well then, I guess it's something I'll have to do on my own."  
  
She slammed the door loudly behind her and walked quickly down the hallway and eventually out of the ritzy hotel. Her thinking was back to search and destroy mode, and according to Stephano's scientists, she was going to stay that way. It would only be a matter of time before their final threat was wiped out and the DiMera Empire started to make its full impact upon the world. Raven's fast-paced walk brought her thousands of stares as she strutted on in her cat suit. Her trek brought her eventually to the Statue of Liberty raising her grew arm towards the horizon. She ginned evilly and searched the width of the Statue with her eyes. From across the water, she could not see any unusual openings in the sides.  
  
She looked around uncertainly and saw a ferry on it's way out to the statue. She ran to it immediately and ran up the catwalk just as it pulled out of the docking area. The ferry was rather quick, and it stopped right by the colossal grey statue. The sun felt hot on Raven's hair and neck. She groaned and hopped off the ferry, leaving the tour group of disgusted feminists and running off in the other direction. The statue offered her momentary sanctuary from the sun as she ran her hands over the base of the statue, stopping when she came to a mall slit in the wall. She looked at it curiously and brought her eyes level with it. It appeared as though it were some sort of card scanning device. For what card? Chloe reached into her heavy belt and felt around. Nothing but Brady's ugly old wallet. Her fingers closed over a smooth card. She pulled it out and read it's laminated surface:  
  
"Property of Brady Black."  
  
She rolled her eyes and shoved the card into the slot. A heavy creaking noise was heard as a portion of the stone swung open before her. After the initial shock had worn off, she smiled and hopped inside, pulling the door shut behind her. Some way or another, she knew she had located the Secret Service's base. She could feel it. How she knew where it was she didn't particularly know.  
  
But now that she was in there, nothing would stop her from her goal. Brady Black would finally fall under the sharp tip of her dagger, and she'd collect her nice bounty and give Matrix a proper funeral. 


	20. Chapter 19

Conspiracy  
  
Chapter 19  
  
Raven slunk silently between the shadowy corridors meandering endlessly from the entrance found at the side of the Statue of Liberty. There wasn't any sign of human life let alone a colony of secret service agents to be seen anywhere. She pressed on, using only her internal instinct and womanly tactics, for whatever good they did, in locating Brady Black. And, she would do just that.  
  
* * *  
  
Stephano raised his eyebrow and turned his chair around to face the small man wearing a lab coat. He placed his hands on his desk and looked menacingly upon the little man, a glint of something beyond anger and beyond happiness and beyond sadness in his narrowing eyes.  
  
"Why, pray tell, did you not insert the chip into her?"  
  
"She didn't need it, master. I swear it. She was already engulfed in memories of Raven DiMera when I was finished brainwashing her with the new technologies. The brain chip would prove no better a substitute than giving her a book on her supposed life and asking her to remember it." The little man said, making appropriate hand gestures as he spoke with minimal enthusiasm. Stephano drummed her fingers and sighed audibly. Apparently the chip had helped some…his eyes moved over to a small corner of his desk where a flat screen lay built into his desk. A little red point moved slowly across it.  
  
"Well, it appears as though she has found the base, and I must give that much credit to your technological device…yet I am not partial to this as there is no back up system. If something should trigger her memories again, I do not know what lengths I will have to go to, to cover up her behavior and all. Also, I believe we have raised her to her full potential. She was only killed two of her group members, or, supposedly two of them. And notice that they are both men? Such a feminist."  
  
"It's not a man's world anymore, Sir."  
  
"No, it is not…" Stephano replied, rubbing his chin. "And in such times I will need to have an effective back up plan. In which case, I have chosen someone to keep a close watch on Raven. I will dispatch him as soon as possible."  
  
* * *  
  
Raven's shoes made a echoing stamping sound as she walked slowly through the corridor, her eyes moving around the small catacomb-like hallways and looking for any sign of imperfection. It was dark inside, and if it weren't for the extremely shiny pleather belt Raven wore that was able to reflect any meager rays of light, she would be in total darkness. Every so often a scurrying sound would be heard, and some eerie scratching noises.  
  
Ahead of her was nothing but more darkness, meaning only that there was more hallway to explore. She ran her hands along the walls and slowed her pace. A low rumbling sound was heard and she stopped completely, standing stock-still and searching the room with her eyes for the source of the sound. So engulfed was she in the sound that she was completely unprepared for the sudden shift of the wall behind her. She fell backwards onto cold, hard ground. As soon as she hit the floor she stood right back up again and cursed. If anyone had heard her, she would be found out immediately.  
  
She tiptoed into a shadowy area and put her back against the wall. This room was much lighter, and it led off in a tiled corridor, lighted with small pot lights. She waited in the shadows for any sign of movement…but there was none. She stepped slowly out of the darkness and pocked her head around the side of the corridor. She could spot the camera easily from where she stood. The tile was completely white. So white in fact, and so matching with the walls that you could not tell where one began and the other ended. All that was obvious was the steel door at the other end of the hall and the black surveillance camera. Raven looked down at her own outfit. It was black. If she wanted to get through that corridor, she needed to be invisible. And the only way to be invisible was to be white. Completely white. She stepped back from the wall she was leaned up against. She had noticed the small combination lock on it when she had stepped into the room. Now she bent down beside it and pressed her ear up against it. She slowly turned the lock, hoping perhaps that whatever this lock kept from her would help her across that little bit of hallway. She had thought perhaps she could shoot at the lens of the camera, making it completely useless, then again the sound of a gun shot would surely attract some negative attention.  
  
Right turn, 37. [i]Click[/i]. Left turn, 49. [i]Click[/i]. Right turn, 5. [i]Click[/i].  
  
A small portion of the wall popped open. Chloe pried that piece open and looked inside the small crevice it revealed. She smiled and tore one of the white suits from the silver rack on which they hung.  
  
* * *  
  
Crossing the hallway was a breeze. The camera detected nothing at all. The heavy steel door slid open when Chloe reached it, closing silently behind her as she slipped the white suit off her own black attire. She pulled her curls back from her face and wove them quickly into a braid. She was treading dangerously now, in enemy territory. Of course, she knew that Brady would not jump her as quickly as she would him. He was vulnerable to the fact that she looked like someone from his past. What good did that do her? Much good. Then again, it may not have reached her mind in that time, but you didn't change much in the five years between the age of fifteen and twenty…and how many Raven look-a-likes could there be? If she wasn't so out of it, she may have pondered that pleasant fact.  
  
Raven's ears perked up when she heard a voice speak. In fact, it wasn't one voice, but a whole lot of voices. There was a wall behind her, and a wall on each side of her. There was a small space between the far wall and the two walls at her sides, not doubt a corridor. She walked quietly and stepped out into it, looking towards the left. She heard an ominous gasp and turned around quickly to the right. Then she gasped, too. 


End file.
